Remnants of Fate
by Zelenal
Summary: A boy who has sacrificed everything to gain nothing. A girl who wishes to save everything while sacrificing nothing. These two contradictory yet similar people placed on a collision course with forces beyond their understanding. They both fight for their ideals but reality isn't so kind as to let ideals remain unchallenged. All they can do is carry on against the remnants of fate.
1. V1C1: A Different Fate

Screaming and the snarls of beasts filled the air as black smoke drifted into the night sky. The creatures of Grimm rampaged about the village as the people ran for their lives, a brave few futilely fighting against their fate. As a small group fled from a pack of Beowolves, a young girl in the group tripped and fell. Her mother stopped and turned back, screaming for her child, but there was no hope. The lead Beowolf pounced, its maw opened wide to devour the girl that screamed in terror.

There was a streak of silver and the Beowolf was stopped, a large hole appearing in its torso. Like an avenging angel, a figure clad in blue and white descended from the heavens, his black longsword gleaming in the moonlight as he brought it down to cleave the beast in two. Without hesitating, he plowed through the disappearing remains of the lead Beowolf and lashed out at the others. The villagers could only stare in awe as the man moved with precision, power, and grace; his blade like a fierce gale as he tore through the pack of Beowolves. Their limbs were removed, their dark hearts run through, and their heads severed from their bodies without stop.

It had only been a few moments but the last of the ten Beowolves had already been killed.

Having come to a stop, the villagers could finally get a good look at their savior as he turned towards the still prone girl. He was very young— clearly no older than eighteen— and had short, red hair that framed an angular face with shocking ocher eyes. His garb was similar to that of a knight but it also carried about it an air of regality. All of his armor; from the vambrace on his left arm to the spaulders and rerebraces over his shoulders, his cuirass and faulds, his greaves and sabatons, to even his gauntlets where a silver-white in color that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Beneath his armor, he wore a long sleeve shirt that was a vibrant royal blue with white trimmings and thick, black stripes that ran down the outside of his arms. Strapped to his side at his waist was an equally blue scabbard with gold traceries and across his back was a black quiver.

The man approached the young girl and held out his left hand towards her. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice full of calm compassion. The young girl blushed but nodded, not trusting her voice as she grabbed his offered hand and stood up. "Good," he smiled slightly before his expression hardened once more. "All of you, get to the church. I've already cleared the Grimm out of that area and it'll be easier to protect you if you're all together. I need to go see if there are any more survivors." Without waiting for a response, the man turned and took to the rooftops, his work far from finished.

OoOoOoO

Emiya Shirou sighed as he saw yet another corpse being devoured by the Grimm. At one point in time, he would have blamed himself for not having been fast enough or strong enough and he would have bemoaned the fact that his ideal of saving everyone would be forever out of his reach but that had been a lifetime ago. Now he just mourned the loss of life for but an instant before moving on, never paying that corpse another thought.

Spotting three Creeps cornering a young couple, Shirou activated his weapon's transformation and shifted it to his left hand as it quickly turned into a black bow. With practiced ease, he secured the string and knocked an arrow, releasing it a heartbeat later. Two more followed in short order and all three Creeps were struck down before any of them could so much as blink. He wanted to tell the couple about the church but they were too far away to hear if he shouted, even if he strengthened his vocal cords, and he had other, more pressing concerns so he let them be for now.

Shirou knocked another arrow and turned his aim towards the sky at the small Nevermore that was flying around. Shirou held the arrow ready for a moment, its head sparkling with white Dust, before letting it fly. Upon impact, the Nevermore's left wing was encased in a solid block of ice causing it to screech in pain as it plummeted to the ground. It wasn't dead but it also wouldn't be a threat for a while. That seemed to be the only flying Grimm this time around and for that he was thankful. He could shoot them down easily enough but they were still more of a pain than most of their land-bound brethren.

After surveying what he could see of the village from his vantage, Shirou started to move again, trying to find that couple from earlier. There weren't that many Grimm this time around so he could probably declare the village reasonably safe after another half hour or so if he was lucky. It helped that nothing here seemed particularly dangerous, comparatively. He was also glad that Ozpin had been right in guessing that this village was one of three that would likely be subjected to one of the unprovoked Grimm attacks that had been plaguing the Kingdom of Vale for the past three months. With any luck, this would let him figure out what Salem was up to.

Shaking his head to clear it, Shirou focused on the task at hand. The night was still young and a Huntsman's work was never done.

OoOoOoO

"Excellent work, Shirou," Ozpin said over the Scroll after Shirou gave his report. It was now just after seven in the morning and a rather groggy Shirou was leading the survivors to the nearest town. He had been right about how long it would take him to clean up the rest of the Grimm but any thoughts of sleep were pushed from his mind when he entered the church and saw all of the wounded that needed to be tended to. While he was nowhere near a professional, he knew enough about first aid to make sure everyone was properly bandaged and fit for travel. After that had been taken care of, it was already dawn.

"Any idea what she's after?" Shirou said, nodding his head to accept Ozpin's praise.

Ozpin scowled, "Not quite. I have it narrowed down to three possibilities and all three of them just lead to more questions."

Shirou snorted, "Business as usual, then."

Ozpin allowed himself a small smile, "Quite. Anyway, I need you to return to Vale as soon as possible. I have your next mission lined up and it's going to be a long one."

Shirou grunted in response. Pretty much ever since he arrived in Remnant and had fully recovered, Ozpin had been sending him on mission after mission. Not that he could really complain. Even after all of the hell he had been through, Shirou still desired to save people because that is what _she_ would want to do. "What's the job this time?"

"Oh, it's nothing too difficult. I just need you to watch over someone for me."

"Bodyguard duty? That's new. Did you find another one of _them_?"

"No, not yet. This is someone… I wouldn't say 'unexpected' but they showed up far more dramatically than I thought they would."

"Why me? Don't you normally have Qrow handle these things?"

"Yes but these are special circumstances. Your age is closer, which will be helpful, and no one knows who you are. Besides, your mission isn't necessarily to protect, just to observe and… do whatever comes naturally. The two of you have quite a bit in common."

Shirou gave Ozpin a flat look, "What are you not telling me?"

Ozpin smiled enigmatically as he sipped from his coffee cup, "An airship will arrive for you at the town to pick you up this afternoon. I'll meet you at your apartment to go over the details then."

Shirou nodded, biting back a sigh at his benefactor's mysterious nature. It probably wouldn't be so bad if the jerk didn't _enjoy_ it. "Alright. I'll see you then." As the call was ended and he returned his Scroll to his pocket, Shirou forced himself to brighten up a bit. Despite whatever Ozpin was hiding, the mission sounded straightforward enough and, if he was being honest, he needed something simple after having been running all over Remnant the past few months. This change of pace was probably going to be just the relaxing break he needed.

OoOoOoO

Shirou bit back another curse as he stared at the building before him. This was absolutely _not_ going to be the relaxing break that he needed. He had no idea what had compelled Ozpin to enroll him in his school and assign him to watch over someone called Ruby Rose but this was the absolute last thing he wanted to do. It wasn't a slight against her or anyone else at the school, it was just that the familiar routines and encounters this promised would undoubtedly bring back painful memories that he absolutely didn't want.

Qrow promising to inflict pain unimaginable on him if he did something funny with his niece was also unwanted, for more reasons than one. As if he'd dishonor _her_ memory like that.

Regardless of his personal feelings, it's not like Shirou had a choice in the matter. Ozpin had been gracious enough to take him in after Qrow had found him unconscious in a field somewhere and then had helped him get adjusted to living in a new world. He had even believed him when he told him an abridged version of his story. Shirou owed a great debt to Ozpin and, if for nothing else, he'd do just about whatever was asked of him to try and discharge that debt. It certainly helped that Ozpin had let him in on some of Remnant's secrets which let Shirou fully appreciate the importance of his target.

Shirou's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an explosion going off nearby. The complete lack of reaction from the students milling about around him made him, not for the first time, question the sanity of the people in this world. Not one to leave well enough alone, Shirou pushed his way through the crowd to where the explosion had happened.

He somehow wasn't surprised to find Ruby Rose standing there.

"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight _monsters_ so… watch where you're going!" A girl with long, white hair done up in a side ponytail was currently berating her. The girl looked vaguely familiar to Shirou but he couldn't place her.

"Hey, I said I was sorry, princess!" Ruby replied, clearly aggravated by the dressing down.

"Is everything okay here?" Shirou asked as he stepped forward. A bit too late, he noticed another girl who had been approaching, one with black hair and curious yellow eyes, stop and close her mouth.

"Everything is perfectly alright, no thanks to this dolt!" the white-haired girl said.

"I'm glad no one's hurt," Shirou said, cutting off Ruby to try and curtail the argument. "What happened?" Shirou posed the question to Ruby first, making sure that it didn't seem like he was ignoring her. He was idly aware of the black-haired girl walking away.

"My sister and I just got here and then she ran off with her friends and I fell down onto her luggage and then she started waving a vial of Dust in my face and it made me sneeze and then everything exploded and she started shouting and me and I said I was sorry but she kept shouting and I was getting mad and I didn't know what to do and–"

"Whoa! Calm down! Deep breaths. Everything's fine," Shirou waved his hands in a placating gesture, trying to stop the younger girl from passing out due to the lack of oxygen. "Well? What's your story?" he turned his attention to the white-haired girl. She folded her arms and raised her head slightly, trying her best to look down on him despite being shorter.

"I was taking my luggage to place it in storage when this dolt crashed into me. It contains a lot of Dust powder obtained directly from the Schnee quarry so I reprimanded her for her carelessness. If it wasn't so well secured, she could have blown this entire area to kingdom come. She seemed to be unaware of these facts so I took it upon myself to educate her. It seems that the vial I was holding had been slightly opened by the crash and some of the Dust became airborne as I moved it. This caused her to sneeze which triggered the explosion."

Shirou blinked a few times. "That's strange. Dust is pretty stable so sneezing shouldn't have set it off like that."

"That's… true. There must have been an error in the refinement process to cause such a reaction."

"Then it sounds to me like this was a happy accident. If you had tried to use that Dust normally, who knows what would have happened."

The white-haired girl huffed even as Ruby looked hopeful. "I suppose you're right." She turned to face Ruby, "You… have my gratitude. This error could have been… problematic if it wasn't discovered until later. I… apologize for acting so harshly."

Ruby beamed at the other girl, "It's okay! I'd probably be upset if someone fell into my stuff, too." She stuck out her hand, "I'm Ruby Rose!"

The white-haired girl stared at the offered hand for a moment before almost reluctantly shaking it, "Weiss Schnee." Shirou had to resist the urge to smack himself. No wonder she seemed so familiar seeing as how Ozpin had made certain that he knew all of the big names on Remnant. "You should still take care to watch where you're going in the future." With that last remark, Weiss turned sharply and left with her luggage.

Ruby watched her walk off for a moment, stunned by the sudden reversal of her last comment, before shaking herself and turning to Shirou, a kind smile on her face. "Thanks for that. I don't know what would have happened if she kept shouting at me."

"No problem. I'm honestly surprised no one else seemed to care that there was an explosion in the middle of the courtyard."

"Well, you know how it is. It's a big day and everyone's super nervous and focused. I know you just heard it but I'm Ruby Rose! What's your name?"

Shirou shook her hand, "Emiya Shirou. You can call me Shirou. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ruby."

"Likewise!"

OoOoOoO

"Why do you use a bow?" Ruby asked as Shirou finished demonstrating his weapon to her. They were currently slowly walking towards the auditorium where the initiation speech would be held.

"A lot of reasons. The biggest is probably simply because I don't like using guns. The mindset one needs for archery is a lot more suited to me."

"That's cool. Not a lot of people can really appreciate the classics and a bow and sword really fit that knight armor you're wearing. So what's your range on that thing?"

"I don't really know. I did manage to hit a target about seventy meters out once so I can shoot accurately at least that far."

"Seventy meters?"

"Um… That's about seventy-seven yards."

"That's pretty good! The maximum effective range of Crescent Rose is about two thousand yards but I've only managed to go about half that."

Shirou nodded slowly, "That's certainly impressive. It sounds like you'd be really helpful to have around in a fight."

Ruby's eyes lit up as she smiled brightly, "You really think so‽"

"Yeah. You can shoot things from nearly a kilometer away and your melee weapon is a scythe. Those are really dangerous weapons that require a lot of skill to use; I only know of one other person who uses one. Then there's the fact that you managed to get into Beacon, the top Hunter school in Vale, two years early. Given all that, of course you'd be helpful as either long range support or a partner in close combat."

Ruby stared at the ground to hide the massive blush that consumed her entire face. "Thanks, Shirou," she said softly.

"I'm just speaking the truth. Come on. We should pick up the pace so we don't be late."

OoOoOoO

Ruby and Shirou entered Beacon's auditorium only to instantly be assaulted by a wall of noise. Thirty or forty students were almost crammed together, talking excitedly to friends both old and new about what their future held.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" a voice called out from the crowd. Ruby and Shirou looked to see a rather busty woman with extremely long and curly blond hair waving in their direction.

"Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony!" Ruby said to Shirou before running off.

Shirou raised a hand and waved lazily, "See you later."

Yang Xiao Long crossed her arms as Ruby came to a stop in front of her, "How's your first day going, little sister?"

"It's been crazy! After you ditched me, I tripped over another girl's luggage! She started shouting at me and then I exploded and she shouted some more but then this really nice guy came up and calmed her down!"

"Yikes! You exploded? What did she do that made you so angry?"

"No, I _literally_ exploded a hole in front of the school! That girl was waving a vial of Dust in my face and some of it came out and it made me sneeze and it exploded!"

"Why did it explode? It shouldn't have done that."

"That's what Shirou said! After he pointed that out, Weiss apologized and took off."

"I take it this Shirou is that guy you walked in with?"

"Yeah, he was super nice. We talked on the way here and he said I'd be really good to have around in a fight."

Yang smiled knowingly at Ruby, "Well, good on ya, sis. Didn't think you'd find one on your first day. And a really good looking one at that. Guess I must have rubbed off on ya."

"Found one wha-" Ruby's look of confusion was instantly replaced with one of horror, a massive blush consuming her face as she realized what her sister was going on about. "It's not like that!"

Yang chuckled, "Calm down, Rubes, I was just messing with ya. Oh, hey, Professor Ozpin's on."

Up on the stage, Professor Ozpin stepped up to the microphone a checked it, a faraway look on his face, "I'll… keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction." A low murmur broke out among the crowd at this. "You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

As Ozpin turned to leave, Professor Glynda, who had been standing beside him, stepped up to the mic, "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation test begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

Yang and Ruby both frowned. "He seemed kind of… off," Yang said.

"It's almost like he wasn't even there," Ruby added.

Elsewhere in the crowd, Shirou scowled. That had been enigmatic and pessimistic even for Ozpin. _'Something changed but what? Did he figure out something about the attacks? Does it have to do with one of the Maidens? Or is it something else that he's hiding? It seemed like the more I learn about Remnant, the less I know. I just hope that, whatever it is, we can actually do something about it.'_

OoOoOoO

That night found all of the first-year students camped out in the ballroom; the hall nearly packed to the brim with sleeping bags and miscellaneous luggage. It was here that Ruby was laying down on her stomach, writing away at a journal.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang said as she crashed onto the sleeping bag next to Ruby's.

Ruby didn't even pause in her writing, "I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though."

"I know _I_ do," Yang replied as she purred at the muscular and shirtless guys walking by. Then a rather scraggly looking blond guy in footie pajamas walked by and waved at her which turned that purr into a groan. Of course there'd be duds with the studs. Turning her attention back to Ruby, Yang said, "What's that?"

"A letter to the gang back in Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."

"Aw, that's so cute!" Yang was suddenly knocked back when a supersonic pillow materialized in her face.

"Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school! It's weird not knowing anyone here!"

"What about Shirou? He seems pretty nice! There you go! Plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase!"

Ruby smiled slightly as she rolled onto her back, "Yeah, you're right. Weiss was also not _that_ bad when she wasn't angry. I could probably be her friend if I don't do something stupid."

"See? You'll be fine! You're surrounded by friends you just haven't made yet!" Yang let her eyes drift over the crowd when she saw someone familiar. "Hey, isn't that Shirou over there?"

Ruby sat up and looked to where Yang was pointing. She saw a familiar mop of red hair and ocher eyes staring down at the Scroll in his hands. It was kinda weird seeing him in pajamas— a white t-shirt and blue cotton pants— since his armor had made such a striking impression but it was definitely him. "Yeah, it is."

"Let's go over and say hi. I want to meet my lil sis' first friend at Beacon."

"C'mon, Yang! You're just going to embarrass me!"

"Now Ruby," Yang said as she hauled her little sister up, her face one of deadly seriousness, "As your elder sister, it's my duty to embarrass you every chance I get. Now let's go!"

Shirou looked up from his Scroll when he heard the sounds of a struggle going on only to have to bite back a sigh at the sight of none other than Ruby Rose being drug in his direction by that blonde girl who had called out to her earlier. _'That girl really knows how to draw attention to herself,'_ Shirou thought as he put away his Scroll and stood up.

"Hey there! I'm Yang Xiao Long!" Yang said as she held out her hand.

Shirou shook her hand, "Emiya Shirou but you can call me Shirou. Hey Ruby." Ruby shyly waved at him from her spot behind Yang. "I take it you're the big sister Ruby talked about?"

"That's right! I heard you helped my lil sis out so I decided to come meet ya!"

"It was nothing, really. There was an explosion and she seemed to be in trouble so it's only natural to want to help."

Yang smirked, "So you like playing the knight in shining armor? Guess that explains your outfit before."

They both ignored Ruby's indignant exclamation of Yang's name. "I… guess. I like helping people so that's why I'm doing this."

"So you're just like Ruby."

"What do you mean? Actually, wait," Shirou held up a hand to stop Yang from answering before turning to face Ruby. "I'm sorry. I've been talking about you like you aren't here."

"Oh, no, it's okay," Ruby answered somewhat bashfully. "Yang's right, though. When I was little, she used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters… They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress! As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books… Someone who fought for what was right and protected people who couldn't protect themselves! I want everyone to be able to live happily ever after."

At the conclusion of her speech, Ruby and Yang were both taken aback. Shirou _smiled_. It wasn't the act itself that struck them since he usually wore a gentle smile when talking to people but this was completely different from those. This smile was full of joy like a smile should be but also a bitterness, sorrow, and overwhelming _loneliness_ that struck them both dumb. His eyes had become far away, making it clear that he was no longer looking at them but at some distant place not doubt buried deep within his memory, and he just looked so _old_ that neither of them could believe that this was the same guy they had been talking to not a moment before.

When Shirou spoke, it was with a voice that somehow completely lacked all of the emotion that played across his face yet was still completely honest. "So you and I really are alike. I look forward to working with you in the future. I'm sure we'll get along great."

Ruby blinked rapidly as she tried to process what she just saw. Shirou's face had made such a startling transformation for only an instant and was now back to his usual kind smile but it had been so extreme that it had felt like a lifetime. "Uh… yeah. I look forward to it, too. Well, we should probably be getting on to bed. Goodnight, Shirou."

"Goodnight, Ruby, Yang."

Once back at their sleeping bags, Ruby flopped down onto her stomach and returned her attention to the letter she had been writing. After staring at the page for a moment, she shut the book and rolled onto her back, her head still swimming from Shirou's expression.

"So, that's a thing that happened," Yang said as she joined her sister in ceiling gazing.

"What could make a person look like that?" Ruby asked as she laid the back of her hand across her forehead.

"I have no idea, Rubes, but it couldn't have been nice."

Ruby hummed but said nothing as she let her mind work. She didn't know what could have caused Shirou to look like that but she knew that she didn't want him to have that expression ever again. He had been so nice and helpful and people like him deserved to be rewarded and be happy for what they did. She didn't know if it would help any but she decided that she'd be his friend and help him any way she could. Emotional troubles were far beyond her realm of expertise but she could do no less. With that fire of determination burning inside her, Ruby let herself drift off to sleep.

OoOoOoO

Shirou awoke with a start and barely managed to stop himself from screaming. A quick check of his Scroll showed it to be just after four in the morning and, unsurprisingly, everyone was still asleep. He sat up and fought to catch his breath as he wiped the sweat from his brow before grimacing and plucking his shirt away from his chest. He was covered in sweat and he had no idea where the showers in Beacon were or even if he'd be allowed access to them. Regardless, he knew that he'd be getting no more sleep that night so he rolled up his bedroll and left it beside his satchel before quietly making his way outside the ballroom.

It was a pretty cool night, being the beginning of Autumn, and Shirou was thankful for the gentle breeze cooling down his overheated body. Ever since he had come to on Remnant, he had never had a full night's sleep. While he had been used to having nightmares for his entire life, the new ones he'd been having were _much_ worse. He always thought that he remembered that fire perfectly, like it had just happened yesterday, but he couldn't have been farther from the truth. He remembered all of the facts, yes, but the years had made him almost forget how it felt. He remembered how it felt, sure, but he had forgotten how it truly _felt_. With these new nightmares, however, there was no such problem. Even after nearly half a year on Remnant, those feelings were just as clear now as they had been during the events themselves.

To make matters worse, it seemed that Shirou had let emotions show to Ruby and Yang that he really shouldn't have. Their expressions of shock, Ruby's delayed response, and their awkward shuffling off made that abundantly clear. He just hadn't been expecting it. To find someone who was so much like he had been before the end of the Holy Grail War yet completely unbroken and innocent. Shirou knew that Ruby had lost her mother when she was very little and that loss was probably one of the reasons she wanted to be a Huntress but there had been absolutely no pain in her when she talked about her dreams. There was fondness, gentleness, and a little shyness but there were no distortions. She wanted to make sure _everyone_ , including herself, was saved and she fully believed that it was possible.

A part of Shirou wanted to take Ruby aside and yell at her for her foolish ideals, to tell her that her path can only lead her to a Hell unlike any other, yet another part admired her for it. That part wanted to protect her and do everything it could to guide her down her path. It would be a cruel thing to do in the long run but who was he to stand in the way of another's ideals? Especially when those ideals had not only once been his own but had also been _hers_.

As Shirou walked over to the fountain in the courtyard and splashed his face with the cold water, he made up his mind. Ozpin's orders aside, he was going to do everything in his power to prepare Ruby for the world that lay beyond Beacon's borders. The world was a cruel and terrifying place that would no doubt crush her dreams and ideals but he'd make sure that, when that time came, she'd be able to walk away from it. He could do no less.

* * *

 **A/N:** A/N: A few things to know before you carry on:

This is a minor AU. Some things about the RWBYverse have been altered to be more in line with the Nasuverse. You won't have to worry too much about these changes; they'll be explained as they come up and basically everything that the show has explained is still true here. There are also a few other minor tweaks here and there but nothing terribly major.

This Emiya Shirou is not quite the Emiya Shirou you guys are familiar with, assuming that you're familiar with him at all. His Fifth Holy Grail War isn't like any of the ones from the canon routes or even Hollow Ataraxia. More details about Shirou's past will come up as the story progresses but the most important thing to note here is that this Shirou managed to convince Kiritsugu to properly train him in magecraft.

It's also worth noting that the characters from RWBY have all been buffed. If I'm being honest, going by what we've seen, Shirou should be able to curbstomp basically everyone from RWBY so I gave everyone else a power boost to correct for that. Exactly where Shirou lies on the power scale will be made clearer as the story progresses.

For the most part, the story will start off pretty similar to canon. Shirou's presence won't make too much of an impact but things will change more and more because of his influence as the story progresses. I _will_ be diverging from canon at some point in the future but that's a ways off.

I hope you enjoyed what you've read so far. Please drop a review if you did and also if you didn't. I hope to see you next chapter!


	2. V1C2: Cooking Up Friendships

A/N: Now that everyone who's reading this has read the first chapter, I'd like to introduce you all to something I'll be doing for this story. Certain major battles and scenes will have an accompanying song linked in the text and each Volume will have its own OP. As such, the OP I'll be using for Volume 1 of _Remnants of Fate_ is "Butter-Fly" by Wada Kouji (watch?v=Gd9xzPaVc68).

* * *

Shirou sighed as he poked around the small kitchen the first-years were granted access to. There was a cafeteria to eat at but Shirou had long ago vowed to never eat school food unless he was starving to death. And even then, he'd probably contemplate eating one of his legs first. After all, his cooking was the only thing he really had pride in and the only real joy he had experienced since arriving on Remnant had been the looks on the faces of Ozpin, Qrow, and Glynda when they had sampled it. That look of amazement and wonder was a memory he'd likely treasure forever, especially in the case of Ozpin who very rarely emoted beyond that vaguely mischievous smile.

The only problem was that the pantries of this kitchen were very poorly stocked. Beyond some very basic (to Shirou) things, there wasn't much that could be made with the ingredients on hand. It was clear that the people who stocked it weren't expecting anyone of any real talent to be cooking and it was equally clear that the first thing Shirou needed to do when he had the chance was procure better cooking supplies.

Still, the limited nature of the ingredients did excite Shirou almost as much as it disappointed him. After all, the test of a great chef is the ability to make a great meal out of basically anything and Shirou almost always had any ingredient or utensil on hand. As such, this presented a perfect opportunity to prove his mettle. Or, rather, his cast iron. If he couldn't rise to this challenge then he was certainly a failure as a chef.

Cracking his knuckles, Shirou got to work.

OoOoOoO

An hour later, Shirou looked over the fruits of his labor. He had set out to just make breakfast for himself but ended up making enough to feed a small army. This also had the side effect of almost completely clearing out the pantry of this kitchen but that couldn't be helped.

Despite the lapse of self-control, Shirou was proud of himself. He had managed to make a wide variety of dishes that were all more-or-less to his standard despite the limitations. The Western staples of breakfast— bacon, sausage, eggs (made in a number of ways), toast, pancakes, and waffles— were all there since that was primarily what this kitchen was stocked for but that was hardly all he had made. Omelets of all kinds, aloo paratha, crepes, bhatoora, and tamago kake gohan, to name a few, were also present. Not all of them had everything they should have but they were all close enough to be recognizable.

While Shirou was proud of his success, he was still faced with the fact that he had more food than he could ever possibly eat. He contemplated placing a sign outside the door to try and attract the other students but a quick check of the clock put a halt to that plan. It was only just past six now and only a few of the students in the ballroom were starting to get up. The initiation test wasn't until eight so it's not like they were in any hurry, after all.

While Shirou was contemplating what to do, he heard the voice of a way-too-energetic-for-this-or-any-time girl approaching. She was clearly talking to someone else but he couldn't hear any other footsteps beside hers. Slightly curious, he sniffed at the air and pushed past the smell of the food to focus on his ability to smell power. While he could only smell magic in his home world, he was surprised to find that he could smell people with an unsealed Aura as well. The girl he could smell with ease— her scent was one distinctly of ozone— and he could very faintly smell the other students in the ballroom but nothing else.

This left three distinct options to Shirou: The girl was crazy and talking to an imaginary friend (hopefully unlikely but one can never tell with Ozpin), the person she was talking to didn't have an unleashed Aura (almost certainly unlikely since that was a basic requirement for a Hunter), or they had very impressive presence concealment abilities. The girl talking to someone over a Scroll would have also been possible but what she was talking about (hoping they got put on the same team) made that so unlikely as to essentially be impossible.

When the (hopefully) pair neared the kitchen, the girl suddenly cut herself off. "Oohhhh! Something smells really, really good! C'mon, hurry up! We need to get some of that!" The girl burst into the kitchen with surprising speed, dragging along a rather unenthused guy who Shirou was quite relieved actually existed. She was an orange-haired girl of a somewhat short stature with vibrant green eyes and a strong build that wore an eclectic mix of items and colors. He had long black hair tied in a ponytail with a single magenta streak on the left side that accented his pale pink eyes. His clothing fascinated Shirou since it was completely normal, if rather ornate, and resembled a Chinese tailcoat.

The girl skidded to a stop and just stared in awe, drooling at the vast array of food laid out on the table. The guy was a lot more reserved in his reaction but the widening of his eyes showed that he was just as awed. After a nearly half a minute passed in total silence, Shirou decided to speak up. "Good morning."

That seemed to snap the boy out of his stupor as he shook himself and turned to look at Shirou. "Did… you make all of this?" he asked, a hint of awe and disbelief in his voice.

"Yeah," Shirou said sheepishly, scratching at the back of his head. "I meant to only make breakfast for myself but I kind of got carried away. You're free to have some if you—" Shirou didn't even get to finish making his offer before the girl was on the food in the flash, devouring it with surprising and mildly alarming haste. The sight reminded him painfully of _her_ , even if this girl wasn't nearly as elegant or beautiful, and it took all of his willpower to keep his expression under control.

"Sorry about that," the guy said as he calmly took a seat next to the girl. "She's pretty serious about her food."

"It's fine. I'm actually pretty used to it. Feel free to help yourself to whatever you want."

"Thank you very much," he said before choosing a dish and gracefully taking a bite. The second the food touched his tongue, he froze and his eyes became as wide as saucers. Shirou couldn't help but chuckle as he then began to eat nearly as quickly as the girl but stopped when he came to a somewhat disturbing realization: If he didn't start eating himself, there'd be no more left for him.

Shirou started eating.

OoOoOoO

"That was sooooo gooooooood," the girl said as she patted her slightly distended stomach. Shirou could only look on in awe at the veritable mountain of empty dishes. An hour of cooking all that food and two people had eaten 95% of it (the girl had eaten about 80% of it with the guy eating 15%). At least none of it went to waste.

"I have to agree," the boy said. "The vast array of flavors present was astonishing and everything was cooked to perfection. I had no idea what even half of those dishes were yet all of them agreed with me perfectly. That was honestly probably the best meal I have had in my life."

Shirou blushed and scratched the back of his head, "Thank you very much."

"After allowing us to eat such a delicious meal, we should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Lie Ren and this is my friend, Nora Valkyrie."

"Hi there!"

"I'm Emiya Shirou. It's a pleasure to meet both of you."

"The pleasure is all ours," Ren said.

Shirou got up and started to do the dishes. Ren joined him a moment later. "So, what were you two talking about before you walked in here?" Shirou asked.

"Oh, that's right!" Nora said. "Ren and I have been friends _forever_ and we were talking about how we hoped to be placed on the same team. I was just about to say that we should totally work out a way to make sure that happens! What about you, Emiya? Anyone you wanna be on a team with?"

Shirou contemplated his answer for a moment. While he couldn't come out and say that Ozpin was going to be rigging things to ensure that he _wasn't_ placed on a team to keep him a relatively free agent, Nora's question was still worth considering. "Call me Shirou," he said first. "I can't really say that I do. I don't really know anyone here so I don't really have a preference. I've found that I can work with just about anyone so that shouldn't be a problem, either. If I absolutely had to choose, I guess being on a team with you two wouldn't be too bad since I already know you. Same goes for the other three— no, for two of the other three people that I've already met here."

"Well, _I_ hope you get put on a team with Ren and me. That way you can cook for me more!"

"Nora…," Ren said in warning.

"Hey, you're thinking it, too!" The fact that Ren didn't deny this wasn't suspicious at all, no siree.

Shirou smiled as the topic then shifted to inconsequential things. Ren and Nora made a very odd couple due to how wildly different they were but there was an undeniable fondness in their interactions that made them fun to watch, even if it left a pang in Shirou's heart. Both of them were also incredibly easy to get along with which just made it all the more enjoyable. Ren's serious and straightforward attitude, in particular, brought yet another pang to his heart as he was reminded of Ryuudou Issei but he quickly pushed those thoughts down. Meanwhile, Nora's bubbly nature and boundless energy reminded him of Fujimura Taiga and it took all his willpower to not let anything show on his face.

With Shirou washing and Ren drying and putting away (with Nora providing "moral support"), the dishes were done in record time. It was now around seven so the trio decided to go ahead and head to the locker room to get their gear. They still had nearly an hour left but Ren and Shirou both wanted to get there with plenty of time and they managed to convince Nora.

By now, most of the other first-years were varying levels of awake and were starting to mill about the ballroom. As the trio passed through, Shirou caught sight of Ruby getting ready and waved at her.

"Who's that? Oooh, is she a friend of yours?" Nora asked.

"That's Ruby Rose. She's one of the people I talked about earlier. As for her being my friend… Yeah, sure, I suppose you could call her that," Shirou replied.

"Let's go talk to her!"

"Nora, we need to get going. No doubt that this Ruby needs to get ready, too. There will be plenty of time to talk to her later," Ren said as he grabbed Nora by the back of her shirt and drug her along.

"Awwww, you're such a fuddy-duddy, Ren!" Nora crossed her arms in a pout as she let Ren drag her. After a moment, she started walking on her own. "So, Shirou, who were the other two you said you met?"

"That would be Ruby's sister, Yang Xiao Long, who doesn't seem to be around, and Weiss Schnee."

"Schnee… Schnee… Of the Schnee Dust Corporation?" Ren asked.

"One and the same. I think she's the heiress."

"I wonder why she came to Beacon instead of Atlas Academy."

"Who knows. I've heard some rumors about them but I don't really put stock in rumors. Maybe she just prefers the weather here."

"Or maybe she's acting as a double agent for Atlas and is here to steal all of our pancakes!"

Shirou just _stared_ at Nora before looking at Ren. Ren shrugged. Shirou shook his head and just ignored her. "It doesn't really matter why she's here. She's here and in the same year as us so we'll have to deal with her at least some of the time."

"So she's the one you wouldn't want to be on a team with?" Ren asked.

"It's not so much that as it is that she wouldn't be my first choice. She struck me as rather self-centered and that's not a quality you want in a teammate. She _did_ see reason so she'll hopefully get better buuuuut…."

Ren nodded, "I understand. Seeing as how we'll be thrust into a dangerous situation from the beginning, having someone you know is trustworthy watching your back is certainly preferable."

By this point, the group had reached the weapon storage/locker room so they split up to grab their weapons. Once equipped, Shirou started to make his way to the exit when a familiar voice stopped him.

"Hey, Shirou!" Shirou turned around to see Yang walking towards him, making the final adjustments on Ember Cecilia. "Is Rubes with you?"

"Ruby? No, she isn't. Last I saw her, she was still in the ballroom. Why do you ask?"

"Really? That's weird. We didn't see you when we woke up and she decided to stay behind for a bit. Said she wanted to talk to you about something. You said you saw her in the ballroom? Did she see you?"

"Yeah. We waved at each other but she didn't do anything else. Just went back to fiddling with her pack."

"Sorry I'm late!" Another higher pitched voice said, interrupting a confused and slightly concerned Yang. "Oh! Shirou!" Ruby Rose came screeching to a halt in front of them, a trail of rose petals behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"Yang said you wanted to talk to me. Why didn't you stop me in the ballroom?"

"Oh, you know, you were talking with those other two people and I didn't want to be a bother and intrude," Ruby said as she fidgeted nervously.

Now, Shirou wasn't the most perceptive person when it came to the opposite gender but even he could see social awkwardness when it was this blatant. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to be a bother, she just had no idea how to insert herself into an ongoing conversation. Sakura had been a bit like that when around strangers but she was nowhere near the level Ruby was. He had no idea how to help a person get over that but he hoped the team-based structure would help a bit. Either way, he'd certainly look into the subject later.

"I see," Shirou said. "It wouldn't have been that much of a bother; we were actually talking about you and Yang."

"You've got friends here you didn't tell us about, Shirou?" Yang asked.

"No, I don't. I just met Ren and Nora earlier this morning."

"Well, hey! Plus two friends! Me and Rubes make another two! That means you're up four friends in twenty-four hours! See, Rubes?" Yang lightly slapped the embarrassed looking Ruby on the shoulder. "It's easy! Like I said, you'll have plenty of friends in no time!"

"It's not that easy!" Ruby said indignantly as she turned around and marched to her locker. "I mean, sure, it's easy for Shirou but he's super nice and easy to talk to! He could probably make friends with anyone after talking to them for a few minutes!"

Now it was Shirou's turn to be embarrassed as he waved his hands back and forth. "Oi oi. It's nothing _that_ special. I agree with Yang on this one. You're also pretty nice so I'm sure you'll be fine if you relax and actually talk to them."

Ruby finished her check of Crescent Rose and let it lay across the back of her waist in its holster before shyly turning to look at Shirou. "Do you really think so?"

"I'm positive." Shirou quickly scanned the room and was disappointed when he didn't see Ren or Nora. He was plenty certain that they'd get along with Ruby. There _was_ one other familiar face but that would be more of a gamble. _'Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess. It'll hopefully be better than nothing,'_ Shirou thought as he made his decision. "Look, there's Weiss over there. I'll tell you what: I'll go over there with you and get us into the conversation she's having with those other two and you can take it from there."

"I dunno, Shirou. She was kinda mean."

"Yeah, but she wasn't _all_ bad. Besides, if you can become friends with her then it'll be that much easier for you to become friends with people who give you a better first impression."

"Well… Okay. I guess it couldn't hurt.

As the two started to walk off, Yang called out, "I'll catch you guys at the launch site!"

"Okay! See ya later, sis!"

"Later, Yang." As Shirou started to turn back, Yang caught his eye and made him pause. When Ruby couldn't see her, Yang gave Shirou a thumbs up and appreciative smile before walking off.

As the duo approached Weiss, they started to hear the ongoing conversation she was in. "That's _you‽"_ An unidentified blond guy in a ridiculous combination of a chest plate, blue jeans, and a _hoodie_ said towards a long-haired redhead who Shirou knew by reputation. "But they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you," Pyrrha, the redhead, said.

"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask _her_ to be on your team?" Weiss said. It was clear that her crabby attitude wasn't a situational thing.

"I guess not… Sorry…." Jaune said as his body slumped, the perfect picture of total rejection.

"I wouldn't say that," Shirou said as he stepped closer. The three turned to look at the duo and Shirou noticed a look of annoyed recognition pass through Weiss' eyes. "Even though Pyrrha Nikos here _is_ considered the paragon of potential Huntresses, she's not unreachable. You don't have to be anywhere near her level to be a good teammate."

"Yeah, really?" the blond said with more than a hint of biting sarcasm. "She's on a cereal box! Do you know how much raw talent is required to get on a cereal box‽"

"No, not really," Shirou said, slightly weirded out by his choice of baseline, "but it doesn't really matter. Back me up, Ruby."

Ruby jumped slightly as everyone turned to look at her. "Huh? Um… Yeah! I-I think you're right, Shirou. Everyone has things they're good at and things they're not so being a good teammate is just about being good at what your team isn't. At least, that's what my Uncle Qrow always said."

The blond looked thoughtful and Weiss looked confused as Pyrrha nodded. "For what it's worth," Pyrrha began speaking to the blond, "I think you'll make a great teammate. The fact that you're worried about it is proof enough."

The blond looked positively bashful as he shuffled his feet, "Aw, jeez. Stop it, you guys."

"Yes, please, stop it," Weiss said suddenly. "This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!"

Shirou raised an eyebrow at that but was interrupted by the blond. "Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune. How about you two?" he asked Shirou and Ruby.

"I wouldn't be against it," Shirou said.

"I-I guess that would be kinda nice," Ruby said, awkwardly shuffling her feet.

"I'll put red over here down for a 'Yes.' Well, snow angel? Spots are filling up quick! Now, I'm not supposed to do this but may— Gak!" The blond had been slowly advancing on an increasingly annoyed and uneasy looking Weiss when he was suddenly jerked backward by his hood.

Shirou locked his gaze with the blond's as he spoke. "Listen, buddy, I don't know what playbook you read before coming here but pressuring a woman into _anything_ isn't something decent people do." His expression and tone were both perfectly neutral but they carried such a palpable sense of nameless danger, bordering on killing intent, that the blond couldn't help but be cowed by them. Despite not being the target of it, Ruby and Weiss both took a half step back at the sudden shift in mood while Pyrrha, being the only one who knew of the mental discipline required to produce such an aura without using body language, narrowed her eyes slightly and began to study him.

The silence hung thick in the air for a moment before being violently shattered by the P.A. system. "Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately," a female voice, Glynda's, said.

With the mood broken, Shirou released the blond. "Well, it's been pleasant but we really should be going. Being late to our initiation test would set a bad precedent."

Everyone shook themselves from their stupor, the blond taking more than a few steps away from Shirou, before making their way towards the exit. As they were walking, Pyrrha put her hand on Shirou's shoulder and slowed him down. When she felt that they were safely out of earshot, she spoke. "Was that really necessary?" she asked without preamble.

Shirou contemplated playing dumb but the almost scowl on Pyrrha's face made him reconsider. From what he knew, Pyrrha was a generally happy, easy-going young woman who never really had anything bad to say about anyone. Between that and her reputation, on her bad side was the last place he wanted to be.

"I think it was. I have… experience dealing with people who act that way. One person, in particular, I used to call my friend since I didn't see anything wrong with it. Then I learned some… _unpleasant_ … things about him. That blond guy—"

"Jaune," Pyrrha provided.

"Jaune doesn't seem like a bad guy— it was pretty obvious that all of his bravado was put on and would collapse at a moment's notice— but the look on Weiss' face brought back some bad memories. I was too slow and too stupid last time so I didn't want to take a chance this time."

Pyrrha hummed for a moment, deep in thought. "I don't know what you went through but you obviously possess greater training than most here. Even I can't change the atmosphere like that so casually. Wanting to stop people from doing bad things is fine but bullying people to do so isn't."

Shirou opened his mouth but then quickly closed it. There was another long silence before he spoke, "You're right. I went too far. I'll apologize to him the next chance I get."

Pyrrha smiled at Shirou and nodded, "Good! You already know my name but I'm Pyrrha Nikos."

Shirou shook her hand, "Emiya Shirou. Call me Shirou."

"Well, Shirou, we should hurry up. 'Being late to our initiation test would set a bad precedent,' after all," Pyrrha said with a cheeky grin.

Shirou could only smile himself as he sped up to catch up with the others. Only twenty-four hours since he arrived and Beacon had already proven to be _very_ interesting.

OoOoOoO

Beacon Cliff, as it was so vaguely named, referred to a very specific section of cliff about twenty or so meters long that was located on the eastern edge of Beacon's main grounds, behind the main complex. What made this particular section of cliff so important was that it marked the western edge of the Emerald Forest and, if one decided to descend the cliff, one would find oneself in the heart of the forest. From there, assuming climbing back up wasn't an option, one would have to walk a few kilometers in order to get out and that was assuming one survived the hoard of Grimm that infested the place.

Naturally, Ozpin decided that the best way to decide partners and form teams was to launch the students into the forest via catapult, have them partner up with literally the first person they see, and then have these pairs hunt down some chess pieces that Shirou was convinced he had purchased from whatever this world's equivalent of a hundred yen store was.

To make matters worse, said headmaster was currently standing off to the side, observing the students mingle while smiling vaguely, a mug of what Shirou knew to be hot cocoa in his hand. Thinking of that last fact made Shirou be suddenly overcome by a very strong desire to punch that smug bastard in the face but doing so would raise far too many questions and would undoubtedly only make Ozpin that more smug. It seemed that living for an untold amount of time while being a Good GuyTM resulted in messing with people being one of the few pleasures to remain in your life and Ozpin was a master at it. Shirou briefly wondered what would happen if he and Zelretch were to cross paths but a shudder of dread made him immediately discard that train of thought.

As fun as it was to contemplate the trollish nature of his boss, Shirou had more pressing matters to deal with as he approached the launch site. He'd probably only have a few moments before the test began and he wanted to clear the air with a certain blond while he had the chance.

"Excuse me," Shirou said as he approached Jaune. The young man nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned around and took a few steps back, looking every bit like a cornered rabbit. "Jaune, is it? I need to apologize for what I did back there. It was completely inexcusable and I humbly ask for your forgiveness," Shirou bowed deeply as he said this.

Jaune looked surprised and confused for a moment but quickly found himself. "Uh, no, it's okay. It's cool." Shirou straightened as Jaune continued, "You were right, I was being a bit too forceful. It's just that I've never really been all that popular with anyone, especially the ladies, and my dad said that all women look for is confidence so… yeah. I guess I overdid it."

Shirou smiled as Jaune stumbled through his own apology. While it should be directed at someone else, it was nice to see that he had an earnest spirit and was just trying to make friends. Sure, the advice his father gave him had been bogus but that wasn't Jaune's fault. Listening to him talk, Shirou noticed that Jaune seemed to be in a similar position as Ruby except he actually had the drive to change himself. He was idly wondering if getting them together would help when Jaune's speech came to an end.

"Thank you for forgiving me," Shirou said first, wanting to get formalities out of the way, "But I believe you should have said all that to Weiss. If you had wronged anyone, it would be her."

"Yeah, you're right. Although, if I'm being honest, she kinda scares me a little. I called her snow angel but she's really more of a blizzard."

Shirou chuckled softly at this, "I suppose so but why approach her first, then?"

"That's exactly why. If I could get someone cold and harsh like her to like me then I can get anyone to like me." Shirou blinked a few times as Jaune inadvertently paraphrased exactly what he had told Ruby earlier. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of that.

"That makes sense. I'm Emiya Shirou, by the way. You can call me Shirou."

"Well, you kinda already know my name but I'm Jaune Arc. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise. You know—"

"Alright everyone, onto the launch platforms, please," Glynda said. Shirou and Jaune quickly bid each other farewell and good luck before making their way to the platforms. Jaune chose one at random while Shirou specifically took the one closest to Ozpin and Glynda.

"For years," Ozpin began, "You have trained to become warriors and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Glynda continued, "Now, I'm sure all of you are aware of the four-person teams Hunters-in-training are assigned to. Some of you may even be aware that Hunters have a specific partner on their team who they work most closely with. You will be assigned to your partners and teams today."

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon and will undoubtedly be your closest allies going forward afterward. Your partner, meanwhile, will work with you whenever pairs are required and will often share in your success and failures. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

At Ozpin's revelation, confused murmurs broke out among the students. For his part, Shirou had to suppress the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose at such a haphazard way of deciding something so important. He didn't manage to completely reign in his reaction, though, and a small sigh of annoyance escaped his lips. Despite its quiet volume, Ozpin clearly heard it judging from the way his vague smile had morphed into an almost imperceptible smirk. The bastard.

"After you're partnered up," Ozpin continued, "make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path… or you _will_ die."

 _'Always one for the dramatic,'_ Shirou thought. Jaune's nervous laughter made Shirou curious but he pushed that thought away.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune raised his hand, "Yeah, um, sir?"

And was promptly ignored, "Good! Now, take your positions."

As Jaune started to ask some rather peculiar questions, the other students started being launched into the air. While the idea seemed absolutely absurd, it actually had a lot of merit. It was very common for Hunters to be airlifted to their mission zone and they had to make a long fall more often than not. Being thrown through the air by a Grimm also wasn't terribly uncommon so the ability to safely redirect and dispel your momentum so you can land without too much strain on your Aura was a very valuable skill. This logic was also apparent to nearly every other student here as all but one of them were prepared when the time came. The fact that Jaune had no idea what was going on raised a lot of red flags in Shirou's head but there was nothing to be done as the blond was quickly catapulted into the air, screaming all the way.

Now the only student left on the cliff, Shirou watched as Glynda tossed a wireless earpiece towards him. Without a word, he caught it and put it on. Ozpin wanted Shirou to remain a relatively free agent during his tenure at Beacon just in case and as such, they would be helping him avoid any unpartnered students. Judging by the slight scowl on her face, Glynda wasn't all that pleased with what she viewed as cheating but she said nothing as Ozpin gave the thumbs up before activating Shirou's launch pad.

* * *

A/N: First of all, I'd like to say that I'm taken aback by the response the first chapter has gotten. I'm used to my stories being released with no fanfare or attention but you guys blew all of the records my other stories had out of the water in the first week alone while several of them had been on this site for years. I'd like to thank each and every one of you who left a review, followed, and/or favorited this story. I really hope I can live up to your expectations.

Starting with this chapter, I'm going to introduce something else I'll be doing every so often. After certain chapters, I'll be including an omake or extra. This will be a brief scene that depicts an event that's canon to the story (unless otherwise stated) but didn't fit in anywhere.

 **Omake 1  
** The Next Mission  
During V1C1

Shirou and Ozpin sat in the former's apartment in silence, sipping tea as the wall clock ticked on. Shirou had only been back in Vale for an hour before Ozpin had shown up as planned.

"I want you to join my academy," Ozpin finally said after finishing his tea.

"Any reason why?" Shirou asked as he refilled Ozpin's cup.

"A number of them, actually. You have been in Remnant for a few months now and while you have been studiously studying our world ever since you awoke, we feel that you'll be better served by studying in a more scholastic setting."

"You sound like Glynda," Shirou observed cooly before taking a sip of his tea.

"Yes, she was rather insistent upon that matter. Moving on, if you manage to graduate from Beacon, your degree and official Huntsman license will no doubt make your life easier in the future. Your time there might also let you form connections."

"You mentioned something about having my next mission lined up. What is it?"

Ozpin smiled as he sat down his teacup and pulled out his Scroll. "I want you to enroll in Beacon in order to watch over someone of importance," he said as he sent Shirou some files. "You remember the story of the Silver Eyed Warriors, do you not?"

Shirou opened the files on his Scroll and began reading through them. "Yes. An ancient race of people who possessed the power to kill Grimm just by looking at them. I take it this Ruby Rose is one of them?"

"The last one of them, as far as we know. I want you to watch over her and help her in any way you can."

"She's only 15. What's she doing in Beacon?"

"Her physical capabilities far exceed her contemporaries and are on par with the others taking the entrance exam this year. Her scholastic abilities are also exemplary."

"I don't think dragging her away from all of her friends will do her any favors."

"Her older half-sister, Yang Xiao Long, will also be attending this year and there are a few other hopefuls that I'm certain she'll get along with."

"Does this have anything to do with that robbery she thwarted a few days ago?"

"Partially. I had been heavily considering extending an invitation for some time now and that incident simply solidified matters and presented a golden opportunity to ask."

Shirou hummed as he closed the files and locked his Scroll. "You think Salem will make a move against her while she's at Beacon?"

"I don't think Salem knows of her existence and I would like to keep it that way as long as possible. However, given her personality and knack for finding trouble, I doubt she'll remain an unknown for much longer.

"That's where you come in. She will become a target for Salem eventually and you can do your best to prepare her for that. The teachers at Beacon will give her the best education they can but they can't play favorites without raising too many questions and garnering too much scrutiny. You, however, can. You are in a very unique position and have an equally unique skill set. It is my belief that you can prepare her for her future."

Shirou sighed deeply as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I don't like the idea of going back to school but I can't deny what you're saying. Very well. I'll do it."

"Excellent. The initiation ceremony is one week from now. The airship for new students will leave the port at 10:30. Your Huntsman attire will be appropriate and make sure to bring your equipment. Everything else will be provided for you.

"One last thing," Ozpin said as he stood and made his way over to the door before smiling mischievously at Shirou over his shoulder. "Welcome to Beacon."


	3. V1C3: The Pieces Come Together

Ruby hit the ground in a deep crouch before immediately taking off at a light jog. Her first thought had been that she needed to find Yang and _fast_ but what she and Shirou had said made her slow down. Yang was absolutely certain that she would make plenty of friends in no time and Shirou had reaffirmed that opinion. Shirou had even said that she was really nice and could easily make friends if she just talked to people. While she still really wanted to be on a team with Yang, maybe it wouldn't be _so_ bad if Yang wasn't her partner. She certainly would have no complaints with Shirou being her partner and she might even be fine with Weiss. There were also those two Shirou had been talking with that morning, Nora and Ren. If Shirou could get along with them so well, maybe she could too?

So lost in her thoughts was Ruby that she didn't notice the other person she was running towards until it was too late. With a cry of surprise and a mighty crash, Ruby found herself lying on top of the absolute last person she wanted to literally run in to.

"Get off me, you dolt!" Weiss scream as she pushed at Ruby. In a flash, the black-haired girl was on her feet and trying to help Weiss up.

"I'm _sooooo_ sorry, Weiss! I was thinking and wasn't watching where I was going and then I saw you but it was too late and—"

"It's… alright," Weiss said testily as she stood up and dusted herself off. "I was equally distracted and didn't hear you in time." Ruby let out a sigh of relief and let her shoulders slump only to jump back when she suddenly found Weiss' finger in her face. "Still! This is the second time you've run into me or my belongings! Watch! Where! You're! Going!" With each of those last words, Weiss thrust her finger towards Ruby, forcing her further and further back until she was flush against a tree.

"I-I-I-I I'm sorry! I-I-I I really will be careful from here on out! Promise!"

Weiss sighed as she let her hands drop to her hips, "Worse yet, because of that stupid rule, this means you'll be my partner for the next four years." Ruby started to relax again and pulled herself off from the tree, a hopeful expression creeping across her face at Weiss' words, only to end up right back where she started. "Listen up! I won't accept anything less than the best from my partner so you better shape up or I'll shape you up! You got that‽"

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"Good!" Weiss spun on her heels and started walking off. "Come along, then. I don't want to stay in this forest longer than necessary."

"Coming!"

OoOoOoO

"So, what's your Semblance?" Ruby asked after they had been walking in silence for a few minutes.

"I suppose you should know. My Semblance is the ability to create glyphs. They can either be used on their own or alongside the Dust stored in my rapier for a variety of effects. I'll give you a more detailed explanation later."

"That's really cool! It sounds like you can do a lot of things!"

Weiss smiled slightly at that, "I suppose I can. What about you?" Ruby smiled and was suddenly gone, replaced by a flurry of rose petals. A startled Weiss blinked a few times before following the trail to its source: one Ruby Rose now standing a good twenty feet away.

"I'm really, really fast!" Ruby said with an excited wave. Weiss shook her head and made her way over to the younger girl.

"I see that. Simple but effective. A few of my glyphs would work especially well with that. Tell me, do you always leave rose petals behind when you run?"

"Yep!"

"Why?"

"I dunno! But, hey, my name's Ruby _Rose_ so it fits!"

"Fair enough. It's a bit of a shame you can't use it for stealth, though."

"I'm no good at that sneaky stuff anyway. I'd much rather fight things head-on."

"Yeah, I figured as much. Regardless, we've wasted enough time. We need to get going. I refuse to start the term off by getting a bad grade."

"Hey, did it just get darker?"

"The sun must have gone behind—" Weiss fell silent as a low growl came from somewhere to her left. In an instant, Weiss drew Myrtenaster while Ruby readied Crescent Rose in its scythe form. The two girls remained silent, their backs to each other, as they carefully scanned the area. Several red eyes could be seen peering at them from the darkness.

"I'm not sure whether to be annoyed or grateful," Weiss said as she tensed her body, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. "On one hand, this is going to slow us down. On the other, killing a few Grimm should only improve our grades."

"This also gives us a chance fight with each other. Might as well get used to that now," Ruby replied as she drummed her fingers.

"True. In that case, I suggest we—" One of the Grimm, a Beowolf, launched itself from the shadows directly towards Weiss. Without any hesitation, Weiss took two deep steps forward, her body low to the ground, and lashed out with Myrtenaster, the tip of the blade flashing like quicksilver as she drove it into the Grimm's chest in three places. A graceful spin took her well out of the Beowolf's range and out of the way of Ruby's scythe as she slammed it down into the monster's skull.

Ruby's attention shifted from the fading Grimm before her to the one charging from behind. She shifted her stance, ready to dodge at the right moment, when movement from Weiss made her change her plans. A white glyph bearing an elaborate snowflake appeared before her and acted as a barrier. The Grimm collided head-on with it and was quickly forced onto its hind legs. Acting quickly, Ruby hooked Crescent Rose around the glyph and behind the Beowolf's neck. Aided by a shot from her weapon's rifle, Ruby jerked Crescent Rose towards her as Weiss released the glyph. As the headless Grimm fell to the ground, Ruby twirled Crescent Rose back into a ready position and returned standing with her back to Weiss as the remaining ten Beowolf surged forward.

Ruby met her half of the charge head-on. With a war cry, she knocked the swiping claw of the nearest Beowolf aside and countered with a quick slash to its torso before following up with a spinning slash up its back. She fired off another shot and let the recoil carry the butt of her weapon into the face of another Beowolf moments before it could grab her. A retreating slash to its temple was enough to finish it off but she was quickly forced to spin away from the previous one and then leap backward to avoid an overhead blow from yet another.

For her part, Weiss adopted a reactionary position, Myrtenaster held low with a slight upwards tilt, and let her prey come to her. Two of the Grimm came at her at once from the front as she smoothly shifted her weight to her back leg. The instant she saw their bodies tense for a leap, she sprung forward between them and let Myrtenaster lash out with flawless accuracy. She punctured the inside leg of both Beowolfs at two key places before following up with a spinning slash while they were midair, up the side of one and down the other. When the Grimm hit the ground, they immediately collapsed towards each other and on to a pale blue glyph. Weiss quickly stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground at the edge of the glyph and released the white Dust from its chamber, combining it with her Semblance to cause a series of ice spikes to spring from the glyph and tear the Grimm to shreds.

Ruby swung Crescent Rose with her whole body and sliced clean through the arm of a Beowolf before using a recoil swing to ram the blade through its chest. Another one leaping at her from behind forced her to relinquish her hold on her weapon and roll backward between its legs. She lept out of her roll with her hands and nailed the Beowolf in the back with a dropkick. The Beowolf staggered forward into the shaft of Crescent Rose and toppled forward onto it. The force and positioning of the fall swung Crescent Rose back into Ruby's awaiting hand where she then raised it into the air and used the recoil of a shot to crush the Grimm's head with its butt.

Ruby quickly took in the position of the remaining five Beowolves and she could practically feel the gears in her head turning as she considered what Weiss told her not moments before and what she had caught of glimpse of her doing. "Weiss! Can you shoot something that'll punch through them?" she called out to her new partner.

Weiss spared Ruby a quick glance, "Of course! Who do you think I am?"

"Then get ready!" Rose petals surrounded Ruby as she dashed towards and then past her first target as she nailed it with the side of Crescent Rose's blade. She then used the blade as a pendulum to swing around a tree and towards her second target. With lightning speed, Ruby struck the remaining five Grimm with stunning blows that made them stagger and Weiss watched on, mildly impressed, as she realized Ruby's plan.

"Now!" Ruby screamed as she struck the last Grimm and moved out of the way. The remaining five Beowolves were now in a fairly neat line before Weiss and she immediately carried out her role. A yellow glyph appeared in the air as she held Myrtenaster vertically in front of her and spun the barrel over to yellow Dust. With a deep thrust into the center of the glyph, several bolts of lightning shot out and tore through the Grimm before striking a tree deeper in, the heat from the electricity superheating the sap inside and making the tree explode.

Ruby casually walked back to her partner, flourishing her weapon before holstering it. "Hey, I saw we make a pretty good team!"

Weiss looked at the rapidly fading bodies of the Grimm around, "So we do. I must admit that your plan wasn't a bad one."

Ruby giggled happily as she swayed side-to-side, her hands clasped behind her back, "Aw, it was nothing! You're the one with that big awesome lightning bolt thingy!"

Weiss smirked as she sheathed her weapon, "Indeed I am. Well, let's be off. We've spent long enough here."

OoOoOoO

"The last pair has been formed, sir," Glynda said as she walked up to Ozpin, Scroll in hand. Ozpin, for his part, barely acknowledged her approach as he focused on his own. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy… I can't possibly imagine those two getting along."

"They've been close friends since childhood and I suspect that there's something more between them," Ozpin remarked as he took the last sip of his cocoa. He grimaced as he realized it had cooled in all the time he had been standing atop the cliff.

"I'm not even going to ask. All that leaves is Emiya Shirou without a partner as planned." Glynda paused for a moment and considered her words carefully before facing Ozpin and pressing on, "Sir, I don't understand your treatment of that boy. Qrow finds him half-dead in a ditch in the middle of nowhere after witnessing what he described as a tear in the sky and you not only take him in but reveal to him some of our most closely guarded secrets. I will admit that he is a curiosity but why are you placing so much trust in him?"

"Emiya Shirou is a very unique being. There has never been anyone quite like him in all the years I have lived and I highly doubt there ever will be even if I were to live until the end of time itself. He is a wildcard in this game I've been playing with Salem and one I believe that can change the course of fate."

"How could one boy possibly hold such power? Is it that— what did he call it— magecraft of his?"

"That is part of it, yes, but it is much more than that. Shirou is someone who shouldn't exist. Frankly put, he doesn't belong here and, as far as Nelka is concerned, he never will. That alone would make him invaluable in attempting to manipulate fate."

"Nelka? That's… an old name for the world, right? What does that have to do with this?"

"Correction: It is the _true_ name for the World. Nelka is the entity that embodies the World's will to live and to protect her children— that is, all life that lives upon her. Shirou is an anomaly to Nelka and as such, like all anomalies, must be corrected."

"So, what you're saying is that… the _planet_ is trying to kill Mister Emiya?"

"Not right now. While I can't say for certain, I believe that she is currently confused by him. He is a being virtually identical to the Humans she is trying to protect yet so utterly alien that he might as well be some eldritch creature. I feel that she will closely monitor Shirou for now and decide what to do later. I highly doubt Shirou will ever get in her good graces but he should be able to avoid angering her easily enough."

Glynda shook her head with a sigh. She hated when Ozpin started to go on like this because she understood exactly none of it and it more often than not just made her head hurt. "What about Miss Rose?" she asked, moving on to a topic she could actually understand. "You still show a keen interest in her yet, from the sounds of it, Mister Emiya is the one you expect to change everything."

"That's because I _don't_ expect Shirou to change everything. What I expect is for him to simply even the playing field and maybe throw a spanner or two into Salem's works. Ruby is still the one who I know will bring this bloody revolution to an end. She's not only in possession of the Silver Eyes, she also has a simple soul and that, above all else, is what we need the most. Shirou was also once in possession of such a thing but his past has left him too scared and tainted to be of use there.

"When I assigned Shirou to watch over Ruby, what I wanted to happen is for him to realize how similar they are— or were, at any rate— and try to prepare her for what he knows is coming. While we and the other professors will teach her as best as we can, the simple fact is that Shirou, due to his age and personality, can influence her in a way we cannot. He will sharpen the weapon known as Ruby Rose and temper her soul so that she can save us from the approaching darkness."

"You know, sir, with all due respect, when you put it that way, it sounds almost… callous."

"Perhaps but I do believe that they will be, and already are, all the better for it. Just look at the recent interactions between Ruby and Weiss for proof. By all rights, according to their personality profiles, they should have been at each other's throats and yet here they are now, walking calmly along, Weiss explaining her Semblance to Ruby in detail, after they slew a pack of Beowolves with impressive speed and efficiency."

"You believe Shirou to be the cause of that?"

"To a degree. I believed that they would be perfect for each other from the start— that's why I was hoping that they'd become partners or at least be on the same team— but their current relationship is much more amiable than I expected. I'm almost certain that his hand is in this somewhere."

"Maybe your initial estimate was just off."

"Perhaps. Either way, this turn of events is most fortuitous."

"If you say so," Glynda said as she returned to her Scroll and switched the feed to one of Pyrrha and Jaune. "What about this Jaune fellow? I don't care what his transcripts say, he's simply not ready for this level of combat. I honestly feel sorry for Miss Nikos. That boy will only drag her down. I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes. Speaking of which," Glynda deactivated her Scroll and turned back towards Ozpin, "what did you use as relics this year?"

Ozpin smiled.

OoOoOoO

"So, that white one is your Semblance without any Dust?" Ruby asked as she and Weiss continued through the forest.

"More or less. I _could_ use Dust with it but, since it isn't primed to channel it, doing so would produce less than useful results."

"So you just use it as a wall, then."

"That's one use for it. I can also use it as a midair platform for jumps and a few other things. For example, I can control the surface friction of it to do this." Weiss took off in a sprint, white glyphs appearing on the ground in front of her, but something about her movement seemed odd to Ruby. It took catching up using her own Semblance for her to realize that Weiss was no longer running but was skating on her glyphs as if they were made of ice.

"That is so cool!" Ruby said as she ran alongside her partner. Weiss basked under the praise, grateful that someone actually approved of this travel method for a change. Wanting to impress Ruby even more, Weiss decided to end things with proper flourish and executed a picture perfect double Axel before coming to a stop. "Hey, do you think I could try?"

"I don't see why not. I have an excellent range with these after all."

"Cool! You're the best, Weiss! So, what do I gotta do?"

"Nothing too complicated. Just copy my movements and you should be fine. Just be sure to get a running start so you'll have good momentum."

"Got it! Whenever you're ready, Weiss!" Ruby said as she got into a running stance. Weiss created a few glyphs about fifteen feet away from her and then watched as the younger girl disappeared into a flurry of rose petals.

It was at that moment that Weiss realized she had made a terrible error. It was also at that moment that Weiss realized there was nothing she could do since, for all of her abilities, rewinding time wasn't one of them. All she could do was watch helplessly as Ruby took one step on the glyph, slipped and fell on her butt, and was sent rocketing uncontrollably forward, flipping and tumbling as she collided with the ground, trees, rocks, and low hanging branches.

"Ruby!" Weiss cried out as she took off after her partner, skating as quickly as she could in an effort to keep up with the other girl. She was immensely grateful that Ruby's Semblance left a trail of rose petals in her wake and that it had evidently not turned off for she was afraid she would have lost her otherwise.

When Weiss finally caught up with her, Ruby was laying upside down in what looked like a pile of leaves and long grasses, her eyes almost visibly swirling as she moaned in pain.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked as she skidded to a stop.

"I am never doing that again," Ruby replied as she looked up at Weiss and tried her best to make the world stop spinning.

"Jeez, I can't believe how much of a complete dolt you are! I know I said to get a running start but that didn't mean to run into it with your Semblance!"

Ruby shook her head and pouted up at Weiss, the expression looking very odd as she was still upside down, "Hey, so I like to go fast! Big deal! I didn't know that'd happen!"

Weiss groaned and massaged the bridge of her nose with her left hand when a nagging feeling forced her to stop and look around. There was something really off-putting about this little clearing they found themselves in. In fact, if she wasn't crazy, it looked just like a—

"Hey, did it just get darker?" Ruby asked as she rolled backward into a sitting position.

"Oh great," Weiss said as she went back to massaging the bridge of her nose. "You managed to stumble your way into a—" The sound of cawing and large wings flapping was heard overhead and was growing steadily louder. "Oh _great_." The pair looked up as a very large Nevermore slowly but surely started making its way down to its nest which they just so happened to be standing in the middle of. "Do you want to fight that?" Weiss asked a rather pale and wide-eyed Ruby.

Ruby slowly shook her head, "No, not really."

"How about we run, then?"

"Yeah, running seems like a pretty good idea."

OoOoOoO

The abandoned temple, as the name would suggest, looked absolutely nothing like a temple by most people's reckoning. It was a large stone rotunda nearly thirty meters in diameter with only a small section of ruined wall on one side and five pillars that held up what might have once been part of a roof. Just inside the perimeter of the stone floor were eighteen pedestals atop which were chess pieces of black and gold and currently examining those pieces were two long-haired young women who also happened to be of black and gold.

"Chess pieces?" the black-haired girl asked as she looked around in confusion.

"Some of them are missing. Guess we weren't the first ones here," the blonde, Yang Xiao Long, replied.

"Well, I guess we should pick one."

Yang hummed thoughtfully as she examined a few of them before picking up the gold knight, "How about a cute little pony?"

"Sure," the black-haired girl said with an amused smirk before walking towards her partner.

"That wasn't too hard!"

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to—" A loud rustling from one end of the clearing made both girls ready their weapons only to drop their guards in confusion as red and white blurs burst out of the tree line.

"Oh, hey! We made it! And we didn't get eaten!" Ruby said as she skidded to a stop, Weiss not half a step behind her. Weiss was about to reply when Yang spoke up.

"Ruby?" she asked as she started walking towards them.

"Yang!" Ruby was off again as she quickly glomped her older sister. "It was awful! We were almost eaten by a giant Nevermore!"

"Oh, quit exaggerating," Weiss said as she slowly made her way towards them. "It wasn't _that_ bad. That Nevermore didn't get anywhere close to us."

"So you got partnered up with Weiss, huh?" Yang asked as she gave the other girl an appraising look.

"Yeah and she's super cool! We killed twelve Beowolves really fast! She was all 'Hoooo waaaaaah' and stabbity-stab with her rapier while I sliced 'em up with my baby! Then I lined up the last few and Weiss zapped with lightning like 'VOOOOM' and then it hit a tree and 'BOOM', it exploded! I didn't even know trees could explode!"

Yang smiled fondly at her little sister's usual wild storytelling even as Weiss rolled her eyes in exasperation. She had been a little worried, truth be told, about who Ruby would be partnered up with and Weiss certainly hadn't been on the top of her preferred list but it was clear that there was nothing to worry about. Even if they ended up on different teams, her precious little sister would be just fine.

"Come on, Ruby, let's grab a relic and go. I think I've had enough of this forest for one day," Weiss said.

"Oh! Yeah! The test! Right! Hey, who's that? Is that your partner, Yang?" Ruby moved to step around her sister only to stop when she caught sight of the black-haired girl standing a bit away. Ruby couldn't help but notice her striking yellow eyes and cute black bow.

"You bet! Ruby, this is Blake Belladonna! Blake, this is my little sister, Ruby Rose!"

"It's a pleasure," Blake said as she approached the other three and extended her hand.

"Likewise!" Ruby said before moving into the temple after shaking Blake's hand. She quickly grabbed the first relic that caught her attention, the second golden knight, before returning to the others.

A high pitched scream pierced the relative silence of the forest. The quartet turned in the direction it came from and watched as, not a moment later, Jaune Arc came flying out of the forest and into a nearby tree.

"Did that guy just come flying out of the forest?" Blake asked no one in particular.

"Jaune, are you—" Ruby started to make her way over to the dazed blond only to stop when a loud cry came from another part of the forest. The group watched as an Ursa came bursting out of the tree line, swiping and thrashing like mad, before a blast of pink energy hit it in the back and made it crash to the ground. The most surprising part was the orange-haired girl, who Ruby vaguely recognized, that came rolling off of it, having apparently been riding the beast.

"Awwwww… It's broken," she said, the perfect picture of utter heartbreak. As she started examining it, a boy with long, black hair came running up to her, panting heavily.

"Nora!" Ren, and Ruby was certain this had to be Ren, said as he leaned on the slowly vanishing corpse. "Please… don't ever do that again." Unfortunately for him, Nora had already run off and was now in the temple, a gold rook resting on her head.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora sang while dancing about.

"Nora!"

At Ren's shout, Nora immediately stopped and saluted her friend. "Coming, Ren!" she said cheerfully as she skipped off to join him, relic in hand.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked no one in particular as the others stared on, dumbfounded.

"I think those two are—" Ruby was interrupted once more by a screech coming from the same direction Jaune had flown in from. Everyone turned to see none other than Pyrrha Nikos running for her life from the giant scorpion-like creature chasing after her.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out as she saw her partner dangling from a tree.

"Pyrrha!"

"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asked again.

Yang rubbed one of her temples as she growled in frustration, "I swear, if anything else crazy happens, I'm going to blow my stack."

Blake's eyes narrowed as she faintly heard something in the distance. She looked up into the sky for a moment before asking one more question, "Is that a giant Nevermore headed this way?"

"It followed us‽" Ruby and Weiss exclaimed in unison.

Yang threw her arms up and screamed in frustration as she gave up.

"You know, we should probably help her," Blake pointed at as she gestured to Pyrrha who just barely managed to avoid one of the Death Stalker's claws. Everyone ignored Jaune's cry for help.

"On it!" Ruby said as she readied Crescent Rose. Yang and Weiss called out for her to wait but both were too late as Ruby took off in a flurry of rose petals.

Pyrrha leaped forward and barely dodged another claw swipe but was too slow and too off balance to dodge the second claw. As she was launched away, Ruby rushed forward with a war cry, Crescent Rose at the ready. The Death Stalker move to strike her with its claws so Ruby countered with a spinning slash into the side of the attacking claw. Much to Ruby's shock, Crescent Rose failed to puncture the Grimm's tough shell and the attack that should have been stopped was merely redirected.

The claw clipped Ruby's shoulder and sent her spinning towards the stinger that was coming down at her. Unable to dodge, Ruby altered her rotation enough to bring up Crescent Rose and intercept the stinger with its shaft. The forced of the impact launched Ruby backward and into the ground, making her bound off of it once before she managed to get her feet back under her and dig them and her right hand into the ground as she brought Crescent Rose's gun form up and opened fire.

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang said as Ruby's shots did little more than piss the Grimm off. Conceding that fighting this thing alone was a bad idea, Ruby holstered her weapon and turned to run back to the group only to be stopped by a line of feathers fired by the Nevermore, one of which pierced her cloak and pinned her in place.

"Ruby!" Yang cried out as the Death Stalker lashed out with its stinger. Unable to free herself and unable to draw her weapon in time, Ruby could only watch helplessly as the stinger seemed to close in on her in slow motion. While her Aura would certainly soften the blow, that thing hit like a truck and she wasn't entirely certain it could completely absorb the blow given the damage she had already taken.

Yang set off at a dead sprint, praying for speed she never really had so she could reach her baby sister in time. She barely took three steps before a white blur, moving at speeds approaching Ruby's level, shot by her. Weiss skated forward as fast as she could, Myrtenaster readied with white Dust to save her partner, but she could never be fast enough to beat the streak of silver that seemed to appear from nowhere to severe the beast's stinger from its tail.

Surprised, the group looked to where the silver streak had come from to see a red-headed young man in silver-white armor standing on a small hill, his black bow held at the ready as he reached for another arrow. He stopped, however, when Weiss regained her awareness and finished her action, stabbing her rapier into a pale blue glyph on the ground and encasing part of the Grimm in ice.

"Jeez, I can't believe you did that," Weiss said as Ruby finally managed to free herself. "Wanting to save people is good and all but make sure you don't die in the process."

Ruby seemed to shrink into herself in embarrassment as she turned to face her partner. "I know. But thanks for saving me, Weiss. I'm glad to know you've got my back."

Weiss huffed as she crossed her arms and looked away, a light blush dusting her cheeks, "Don't thank me. Shirou's the one who saved you."

"Is everyone okay?" Shirou called out as he neared the group, his bow back in its sword form and sheathed.

"Just fine!" Nora called out as she thrust her fist into the air. Yang, meanwhile, gave Shirou a thumbs up and appreciative smile before running off to envelop her sister in a bear hug.

"That was a great shot, Shirou. Your timing was impeccable," Ren commented.

"Honestly, it's kind of annoying. I always seem to be late to things like this. It would have been much better if I could have been here earlier and stopped it before things got this desperate."

"Well, you know what they say: The hero always arrives late!" Nora said.

Shirou's smile was just a tad bitter as he replied, "Maybe but I really wouldn't call myself a hero."

"Uh, guys?" Jaune said, having gotten down from the tree and back to the group with Pyrrha's help. "That thing's circling back around! What are we going to do?"

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us," Weiss said, gesturing to the temple.

"She's right," Ruby said, nodding to Weiss. "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live; that's an idea I can get behind!" Jaune said.

Jaune and Shirou both made their way to the ruins. Jaune grabbed the second gold rook while Shirou, after checking the other relics, grabbed the gold bishop.

"Time we left!" Ren said as he noticed the ice pinning the Death Stalker starting to crack.

"Right. Let's go!" Ruby said as she beckoned everyone onwards.

As Shirou watched Ruby pull ahead of the group and leap on to a boulder, motioning them ever onward, he couldn't help but agree with Ozpin's assertions. She was hyperactive, a bit unfocused, and perhaps undisciplined but Ruby Rose had an undeniable charisma that drew people in and would undoubtedly push them onward. She tackled life with an unshakable belief in herself and her cause and with a boundless enthusiasm that was easy to get caught up in. While the way she spurred everyone on made his heart pang with grief, he reaffirmed the promise he made to himself the previous night.

If anyone could save Remnant from the threat of Salem, it was Ruby Rose and Shirou would do everything in his power to get her ready for it.

OoOoOoO

The group of nine tore through the forest as fast as they could go without pulling ahead of the others. They were reaching the edge of the forest now and were coming upon a ruined road that led to a ruined tower suspended over a great chasm. If they could get on top of the tower, they could easily reach the top of the cliffs and make their way back to Beacon Cliff. The only wrinkle in their plan was the giant Nevermore that swooped by above them and perched itself on the tower they had been running towards.

The second it passed overhead, the group scattered and took cover behind the ruined archways as the Nevermore cawed.

"Well _that's_ great!" Yang said in annoyance as she as she peered around her cover.

Jaune, meanwhile, looked back in time to see the Death Stalker burst out of the treeline and charge towards them. "Ah, man, _run!"_ he screamed.

Just as Jaune started screaming, Shirou stepped out from behind his cover and readied his bow. He knocked the arrow and waited for half a heartbeat for the Dust to trigger before letting it fly. The arrow tore through the air like a meteor before hitting home in the Nevermore's chest, exploding on contact. Shrieking in pain, the Nevermore took to the skies even as Shirou continued to pelt it with normal arrows.

As fast as Shirou had been with his attacks, the Death Stalker had been even faster with its charge. Just as he let the last arrow fly, it was on him and rearing back to strike him with its claws only to be stopped by Blake and Ren intercepting it with a cross-slash. Weiss was then by his side and grabbing ahold of his arm, a glyph already forming under them. The two jumped away as the Death Stalker turned its attention to the now fleeing Blake and Ren.

"Go, go!" Pyrrha called out as she skidded to a stop and shifted Milo into its rifle form before firing away at the Death Stalker, Ren quickly reaching her side and lending his own shots. When the Death Stalker about to swipe at them, only then did they stop firing and turn to run.

The group ran across the bridge at top speed, their destination almost within reach, when the Nevermore came back around and used its wings to destroy the center of the bridge. Shirou, who had been at the exact center of the bridge, watched helplessly as his world exploded around him. He watched Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune make it to the tower while he fell helplessly towards the endless abyss below.

Time slowed down for Shirou as his life flashed before his eyes. There was not enough time to project a rope for an arrow. There wasn't a weapon in the whole of Unlimited Blade Works that could be used to get back up. No matter how hard he thought or what he contemplated using, there simply was no way for him to get out of this. This was it. He was going to die.

As he plummeted to his certain doom, Shirou was surprised to find that he didn't want to die. After all of the hell he had gone through, after all the lives that had been sacrificed in his place, after all the pain and suffering and torment that he had endured; he still wanted to keep living. Whether it be due to his sense of self-preservation somehow still existing or due to the fact that he didn't want all of the sacrifices that had been made for him go to waste, he wasn't sure but that didn't change the truth of it.

"Shirou!" Ruby called out as she watched her friend plummet from the bridge. On the other side, Blake looked down and caught hold of his ochre eyes. She could see the fear and helplessness burning inside them and so she dove towards him before what was going on even registered. She quickly caught up to Shirou and grabbed his outstretched arm before tossing one end of Gambol Shroud, aided by recoil, towards one of the structures that ran alongside the bridge. Together, they swung around the bridge's base before Blake tossed Shirou up on top of it, joining him not a moment later.

"Emiya Shirou but please call me Shirou," Shirou said the second they were both relatively safe.

"Blake Belladonna."

"I'd just like you to know that I now consider you to be a very good friend."

"I think I can live with that."

"We need to take that thing out!" Ruby said after she made sure Shirou was okay.

"Then let's hit it with everything we've got!" Yang suggested. The five of them readied their weapons as the Nevermore came back around for another pass. As one, they assaulted it with a barrage of gunfire, arrows, and ice shards but nothing they used had any effect as it destroyed the platform they were standing on with its wing. The quintet quickly jumped from debris to debris before coming to land on a higher section of the bridge nearer the cliffs.

"None of this is working!" Weiss said. Ruby watched as Blake used Gambol Shroud to whip to a higher area, Shirou in tow, and Yang fired futilely at it with Ember Celica.

"I have a plan! Cover me!" Ruby yelled as she launched herself towards Blake and Shirou. Weiss readied Myrtenaster and charged in without hesitation.

(A/N: Play "EVO" by Wild Child Bound)

Back on the lower section of the bridge; Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren were battling the Death Stalker. "We gotta move!" Jaune said as they ran forward. Jaune and Pyrrha blocked the Grimm's claws with their shields while Nora opened fire on its exposed head with her grenade launcher and Ren charged forward, firing his guns.

Jaune and Pyrrha were quickly forced away by the creature's brute strength as Nora stopped to reload. Ren flipped over its attempt to grab him with both of its claws and launched into a series of spinning slashes as he sailed over its back. Just as he was about to touch the ground on the other side, its tail came down and slammed him hard into the ground before batting him away and into a nearby wall.

Ren groaned in pain as he pried himself from the wall and Jaune watched in amazement as the other boy was enveloped by a faint green aura. "Ren's glowing! Why is Ren glowing‽" Jaune asked as he ducked under another claw swipe.

"Soul Surge!" Pyrrha answered as she batted away the creature's other claw with Milo. "It's another attribute of one's Aura that I forgot to mention! It's a really powerful attack that can only be used under certain conditions!"

"Can it kill it?"

"Probably!"

"Ren, what do you need?"

"Get it in the air!" Ren replied as he entered into a low stance and began concentrating his Aura.

"On it! Nora, get ready! Pyrrha, with me! Trip it!" Jaune and Pyrrha rushed forward crossing in front of each other in a serpentine pattern before slashing at the Death Stalker's outside legs and knocked them out from under it. "Pop up!" Nora fired off a grenade at the underside of the scorpion-like Grimm, the explosion lifting it only its back legs. "Lift!" Jaune and Pyrrha quickly moved underneath it and used their shields to hold up the creature, lifting its front end slightly higher. "Launch!" Nora's laughter was slightly maniacal as she twirled her hammer and slammed it into the underside of the Grimm, the resulting explosion launching it into the air. "Now, Ren!"

Ren surged forward a speed greater than was usual for him, a trail of afterimages left in his wake. He lept high into the air, bounding off the back of the still rising Death Stalker to get above before flipping upside down, his arms extended above him and crossed at the wrists. **"Succession Art:"** Green wind coalesced around as he began to spin rapidly and endlessly fire StormFlower, **"Spiraling Lotus!"** Ren's surging power broke and he was launched downwards at incredible speed, punching through the Death Stalker's thick armor like it was made of wet tissue paper.

Ren landed in a deep crouch in front of the others as the corpse of the Death Stalker fell into the ravine. They all turned to look up with concern at the battle raging on above.

Shirou and Blake stood atop a pillar, weapons at the ready, and watched as the Nevermore circled around. Blake opened fire as Shirou loosed arrow after arrow to draw the creature towards them. With perfect timing, they took to the air, Blake throwing Shirou even higher as she landed on the giant bird's back and slammed Gambol Shroud into its temples before using it as a reign to steer the beast around. It cried out in defiance only for a falling Shirou to lose an ice arrow into the base of its mouth, the resulting ice formation wedging its beak open.

The second Shirou's arrow was away, Blake removed Gambol Shroud and threw one end down to Yang, who had jumped into the air using Weiss' glyphs. With the help of Blake and the combined recoil of their weapons, Yang looped above the Nevermore before being slammed down, fist first, into its skull. The force of the impact shattered the ice, sending razor-sharp shards down its gullet, and caused it to black out and start plummeting.

The Grimm crashed into the bridge near where Ruby was waiting, the bridge shattering under the strain. Ruby's hair, cloak, and skirt began to flutter in a mysterious updraft as rose petals materialized around her. She brought her attention to a razor focus on her target and held her breath as she counted her heartbeats, waiting in agonizing patience for everything to be perfectly aligned. When she finally surged forward, she moved with speed of a raging hurricane, Crescent Rose a blur as she bounced from falling stone to falling stone, crossing the Nevermore's path every which way.

With one last spinning slash, Ruby launched herself downwards, Crescent Rose tearing down the Nevermore's stomach, and towards where Weiss and Shirou waited, lightning glyph and lightning arrow at the ready. The Nevermore regained consciousness and instinctually spread its wings in an attempt to stop its fall only for the prepared attacks to be released, their aim true as they sundered the Nevermore's wings from its body.

Ruby loaded a special cartridge of high-velocity rounds into Crescent Rose and prepared herself where she stood on one of Weiss' glyphs. The instant the attacks were launched, a series of glyphs appeared in front of her forming a ramp aimed straight at the Nevermore's mouth as it cried out in pain and anger. Ruby took off again and hit the nearly frictionless surface of the glyphs in front of her, skating along and up them as she launched herself towards the falling Nevermore. She readied Crescent Rose at her side, the blade folding further back until it looked more like a sickle as she kept it close to her body and angled it to start her spinning faster and faster. The girl and the monster finally met in midair and Ruby disappeared. One heartbeat passed and then another before a string of shots echoed out and countless cuts and holes appeared on the Nevermore's body. It let out one last scream as Ruby burst through the other side and landing on the remains of the bridge in a crouch, letting Crescent Rose rest across her shoulders, the point of the blade on the ground, as the Nevermore's corpse fell into the endless abyss below.

* * *

A/N: I am continually astounded by how much support this story has gotten. You all are really great and every notifaction I get of a new fav/follow and especially review really brightens my day. You guys keep being awesome and I'll keep doing my best to put out good content.

This chapter was really fun to write. Not only because of it being the first big battle of the series but also because of all of those sweet lore drops and the chance to explore some fairly major changes Shirou's meddling has caused. Now you should have a good idea as to what I mean in my note at the end of the first chapter about changing RWBY's lore a bit. You should expect more things like this going forward.

This chapter is also where I introduce the concept of Soul Surges. Originally, I was just going to have the characters do these super cool finishers at the end of big fights and I referred to them as Limit Breaks in my notes for the sake of simplicity. However, I eventually decided to make it an in-universe thing since the idea was too much fun to pass up. I never get the chance to properly explain the concept in the story, sadly, so I'll just explain the conditions Pyrrha mentioned here. A Soul Surge is a massive boost in power that allows for the usage of special techniques. They can only be used when a person is pushed to their utmost limits. Normally, this means having their Aura reduced to, say, 12% or less in a serious fight but it can also come about if they're pushed to the brink emotionally. Like a person's Semblance, a Soul Surge consumes their Aura; a great deal of it, in fact. In most cases, a Soul Surge is a death-or-glory attack since it'll leave you with no Aura.

To any Blake fans who were worried that I was writing her out or something, I hope this chapter reassures you that I most certainly am not. Her being ignored for the first two chapters was an unfortunate side-effect.


	4. V1C4: Life's Little Quirks

The upper years of Beacon clapped politely as four first-years left the auditorium's stage, having just been made the first new team of the year. After returning to the cliffs with their relic, Ozpin and Glynda had directed the students to the cafeteria to freshen up and have lunch. It was during this time that Shirou had been faced with the unfortunate, if predictable, side effect from losing control that morning: he was forced to eat the school's food since he had all but cleaned out the kitchen he currently had access to. While it wasn't all that bad, he at least had some mild satisfaction from seeing Ren and Nora's disappointed expressions when they took a bite of their food, it still stung a little. After everyone was ready, they were collected and lead to the backroom of the auditorium to await team assignments.

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark," as Ozpin called out their names, pictures of the four boys appeared on the screen behind him and they made their way onto the stage. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal) led by… Cardin Winchester!" The audience cheered politely as the four boys walked off stage. "Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper) led by… Jaune Arc!"

"Huh? L-led by?" Jaune asked, dumbfounded, as Pyrrha gave him a friendly bump to the shoulder and Nora hugged Ren.

"Congratulations, young man," Ozpin said as his hand covered the microphone. Once they were off stage, Ozpin continued. "Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby) led by… Ruby Rose!"

Ruby turned white from shock as Yang hugged her and Weiss looked incredulous. "I'm so proud of you!" Yang said.

The upper years started to rise from their seats, already gossiping about the new teams, when Ozpin spoke up again, making them all freeze in confusion. "And finally, Emiya Shirou. As the only one to retrieve the white bishop piece and possessing no partner, you will be a free agent assigned to the other teams as seen fit."

Despite being on a world where this tradition didn't even seem to exist, Shirou couldn't stop himself from automatically bowing deeply towards Ozpin and the crowd even as the other students muttered among themselves. In the long history of Beacon and even the other major Hunter academies, this was the first known instance of a free agent, a student not assigned to any particular team. This issue was normally avoided by only allowing a number of applicants divisible by four pass so this meant Shirou was allowed in despite the imbalance it caused.

As Shirou made his way off the stage and to the classroom where the new teams were instructed to gather, he couldn't help but feel faintly apprehensive about this whole setup. His existence was already going to be under some scrutiny by certain parties simply for being a student at Beacon and being placed in such a unique situation was only going to increase that scrutiny. While he wasn't truly the first free agent in the history of any of the schools, those cases only came about when two or three members of an existing team died one way or another. The survivors in those cases only remained as Hunters a couple of times so there was a tested process for this but this was truly the first time a student started as a free agent. Still, as much as he didn't like the extra attention, there was simply was no other way he could do everything he needed to. The idea of having him join Ruby's team as a fifth member had been discussed then subsequently dismissed since he was more useful to Ozpin as a free agent who could leave the school at any time. As it was, Shirou could only hope that the records Ozpin falsified for him would hold up under scrutiny and be thankful that his given name, Shirou, which meant something like "samurai son", was almost identical in pronunciation and phonetic spelling to "shiro" which meant "white" and thus would fit perfectly.

As soon as Shirou opened the door to the classroom and stepped inside, he was set upon by a certain Ruby Rose. "Hey, Shirou, what's going to happen to you? There's no one left for you to be on a team with and you don't even have a partner!" she said. Shirou looked past her to Team JNPR and the rest of Team RWBY to see them watching intently, clearly curious as well.

"I'm apparently going to be a free agent. What this means is that I'll be assigned to other teams as necessary but will otherwise be working on my own," Shirou answered as he made his way to the nearest available seat.

"But Professor Ozpin made it sound like we'll be working with our partner a lot. If you don't have a partner, won't that make it harder on you?"

"That's a very good question, Miss Rose," Glynda Goodwitch said as she entered the room. At once, the students who were still standing took their seats and quieted down. "Mister Emiya's case is a special one but not one that hasn't happened before. Any assignment that you're expected to work on with your partner will be adjusted for him to account for his lack of one. As for assignments that absolutely require a partner such as sparring exercises, the exact procedure will be determined by the professor but he will likely take turns with the other students if possible."

Shirou nodded and accepted this explanation even as he privately wondered how much of a pain this whole thing was going to be. He never really had problems with school before but this situation was already starting to give him a headache.

With Shirou's special circumstances explained, Glynda went on to explain what everyone could expect during their tenure at Beacon as well as assign rooms to the new teams (Shirou got a room to himself, much to Weiss' envy) and handing out class schedules. After fielding a few questions, Glynda then gave everyone a quick tour of the grounds, showing the easiest path to remember to the most important landmarks before going over the directions to a few other places of interest.

When all was said and done, it was around six o'clock in the evening and everyone was released to eat dinner and then spend their remaining time however they wished. Shirou officially, if privately, declared this the worst day of his life since he arrived on Remnant as he was forced to eat school food for the second time. There wasn't really anything objectively wrong with it, it was just so painfully bland and uninspired compared to what he could make that he couldn't help but almost hate it.

After dinner, everyone decided to go ahead and turn in for the night. After all of the fighting and running around, only Nora, who had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of energy; Pyrrha, who was used to incredibly intense training regimens and packed schedules; and Shirou, who was in much the same boat as Pyrrha; were varying levels of exhausted and sore. Ren, in particular, almost fell asleep a few times during dinner, his Soul Surge having taken a lot out of him.

Despite this, that didn't stop Ren from talking quietly with Nora as they made their way to their rooms (despite having not even known her for a full day, the sight of Nora whispering was all kinds of wrong to Shirou) before pulling Shirou aside, making sure everyone else was out of earshot.

"Hey, Shirou, random question but what time do you usually get up?" Ren asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Shirou blinked a few times before answering, "I usually get up around 5 AM. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. Just curious. You seem to get up pretty early."

"I like to work on a few things before I fully begin my day. I've been waking up that early since I was little."

"And how long does this usually take?"

"About an hour, give or take a few minutes."

"So you usually eat breakfast at six?" There it was. There was the reason for all this prying.

"If you and Nora want to join me for breakfast, I don't mind. I'm used to cooking for three or four people anyway."

"Oh, no. There's no way we could impose like that." Shirou placed a hand on his hip and gave Ren a very flat look. "Well, I suppose we could, if you don't terribly mind."

"I don't. Like I said, I'm used to it and I like cooking for others anyway. I'll be making breakfast around six so feel free to join me if you want."

"Thanks, Shirou. Nora and I found the school's food to be… disappointing after the breakfast you made."

Shirou smiled, "Yeah, that's the curse of becoming a good cook. It can be hard to eat anything made by others."

"Well, thanks again, Shirou. I should go tell Nora. I'll see you tomorrow," Ren said with a wave as he began to walk towards JNPR's room.

"No problem. Good night, Ren."

OoOoOoO

Shirou sat cross-legged in his new room, his mind turned inwards as he said the words that would convert his body into a conduit for prana.

"Trace, on."

It was now about eleven o'clock and the moonlight streaming in from the window behind him was the sole source of light, bathing the room in an almost ethereal glow. Having left all of his possessions in the other world and having never taken much interest in such things to begin with, his room had nothing that was actually his. There was a bed that was provided by the school pushed to one corner by the window (the other three had been removed before he arrived). There was a bedside table on which sat a digital clock. There was a desk where his book bag with stored in another corner by the door with a single chair and a lamp. There was absolutely nothing in this room that was, strictly speaking, owned by Emiya Shirou and that's the way he liked it.

"Projection, start."

Even when thrown into another world, there were certain habits Shirou couldn't, and wouldn't, break and this was one of them. Training with his magecraft had been one of the foremost habits his father, Emiya Kiritsugu, had drilled into him before he died and Shirou would often have difficulty sleeping if he didn't do it. There wasn't much point in it anymore ever since he discovered the Unlimited Blade Works and learned that he would never be able to do much with his magecraft beyond that but he still kept at it. It simply didn't feel right to just stop.

"Judging the concept of creation."

Shirou's practicing actually had a practical benefit here, though. While the rules of thaumaturgy seemed to be completely the same, as far as Shirou could tell, there were differences here and there due to outside factors. The practice of thaumaturgy certainly existed in Remnant, Ozpin had confirmed as much simply by recognizing Shirou's power, but the practice of it was exceedingly rare, even when compared to his own world. It seemed that Aura and Semblances muddied the water a fair bit and anyone discovering that they could perform magecraft more often than not just thought that they had discovered their Semblance.

"Hypothesizing the basic structure."

The result of this was a fairly odd one. Ozpin didn't know of anything like the Mage's Association existing in this world (and if Ozpin didn't know about it, it almost certainly didn't exist) and he only knew of a handful of families of magi. Shirou didn't know if Ozpin himself could perform magecraft but he knew a fair bit about it. The result of all of this meant that magecraft hadn't really diminished due to being shared like it had in his world. As such, any magecraft performed here was significantly stronger than it would have been in his world.

"Duplicating the composition material."

However, that wasn't to say that magecraft on Remnant was absolutely better than magecraft on Earth. Simply put, due to the extremely few number of people aware of its existence and the even fewer who researched it and passed their knowledge on in the form of a Magic Crest, the magi families of Remnant were far weaker than the ones of Earth. Their spells would be more powerful in sheer output, yes, but the knowledge of the families on Earth far exceeded theirs. This meant that if a successor of a family of magi from Earth with their limitations fought the successor of a family of magi from Remnant with their advantages, the one from Earth would almost always win. They would figure out their opponent's mysteries quickly and just as quickly work around or outright counter them. Meanwhile, the one from Remnant wouldn't even be able to begin to understand the mysteries from Earth.

"Imitating the skill of its making."

This wasn't the only weakness of magecraft from Remnant. The technology level on Remnant was, on the whole, more advanced than on Earth. Shirou couldn't even begin to understand how most things on Remnant worked and barely understood how to operate what he needed. Between that and the miracle of Aura, the ability of magecraft was greatly diminished and True Magic, the Sorceries, were almost nonexistent. Even when just considering the only magic afforded to him, his Reality Marble, Unlimited Blade Works, a spell that was infinitely close to Sorcery, there was a student in this school whose Semblance could replicate a fair number of its effects but without a limitation on what could be copied. Shirou highly doubted that this student, whoever they were, could match a fully deployed Unlimited Blade Works but it was still a perfect example of his point.

"Sympathizing with the experience of its growth."

To sum everything up, magecraft on Remnant was simultaneously stronger and weaker than it was on Earth and knowledge of its workings was scarce, even among the families of magi. As it was, Shirou wouldn't be surprised to discover that he was now Remnant's foremost expert on magecraft and possibly the Moonlit World in general. This strong possibility was a very sad one since Shirou's knowledge paled in comparison to that of Tohsaka Rin's, his second mentor in thaumaturgy. There was no doubt in Shirou's mind that, if she were here, she would be torn between wanting to fully explore and understand the current state of thaumaturgy here and wanting to find and berate the magi families for doing a poor job.

"Reproducing the accumulated years."

Of course, even this much wasn't everything. Even ignoring what Shirou didn't know, there was Nelka's relationship with Soulkin, the collective term for Humanity and the Faunus, and how that affected everything. It seemed that Nelka still considered Soulkin under her protection, unlike Gaia who had been trying to kill them for a very long time. Not only that but Remnant's version of Alaya, the aggregate subconscious will to survive of Soulkin, either had yet to form or was indistinguishable from Nelka. Either way, it resulted in a lot of very interesting implications but that was getting too far outside of Shirou's comfort zone. He had been reasonably aware of those things back on Earth but not to such a degree that he felt comfortable making theories about how it worked here.

"Excelling every manufacturing process."

What he did know was how all of this affected his brand of magecraft. There were so many pros and cons that it was hard to tell if he was stronger here or weaker. His projections cost more prana and their rate of degradation was a bit faster but there was far more mana in the air to draw from. The quality of his projections seemed to be about the same but his rate of projection had received a not insignificant boost. Blades that normally took a minute or so could now be projected in seconds and swords that could be projected in seconds were now nearly instantaneous. His Alteration was unchanged, as far as he could tell, but his Strengthening was now almost completely useless. He could still reinforce things as normal— in fact, it was arguably easier than ever— but something about Aura made it not play well with that branch of magecraft. There were no negative side effects of trying to use both at once, it was just that Aura already did what Strengthening did and then some. Reinforcement was all about filling in the weak spots of an object in order to make it better and Aura already filled in those weak spots. As such, the two simply couldn't be used at the same time.

"Projection, stop. Trace, off."

In Shirou's hands, laying across his lap, was now a very simple katana. There was absolutely nothing special about it and its quality was extremely low, all things considered. It was a mass produced model made without any reason other than to make money. They were put on the market in Japan where they wouldn't sell to the locals so that they could be exported and sold to Westerners who didn't know better at absurd prices. It was almost completely worthless as a weapon but, as a practicing tool, it was surprisingly useful. It was as cheap and easy to produce with magecraft as it was with machinery so it could be done countless times and at a painfully slow pace without thought while Shirou examined not the sword being produced but the steps taken to produce it. If Shirou could find any flaws in those seven steps and correct them, his projections would become that much better. If he could find ways to streamline the process, then they'd become that much faster.

Still, once the sword was projected, it was worthless and summarily dismissed the instant its existence was noted.

With that stage of his practice finished, Shirou turned his mind's eye towards the field of endless blades that lay in his core. The weapons commonly used in Remnant were almost always far beyond what he could reproduce but he still, surprisingly, gained two new additions today and, while it wasn't strictly necessary, Shirou wanted to give these rare weapons a bit of focus.

The first was a rapier of flawless make and high quality. Its mechanisms were almost too complicated for the Unlimited Blade Works but it was successfully reproduced all the same. While its classification was that of a Multi-Action Dust Rapier, as far as Shirou was concerned, it was just a slightly over-complicated rapier. While it would likely see no use by Shirou outside of extenuating circumstances, its owner put it to very good use and had treated the sword with the care and devotion it deserved as it faithfully served her over the years.

The sword was named Myrtenaster and it was the weapon of Weiss Schnee.

As usual, along with the sword came its complete history and that meant a large portion of Weiss' history. While Shirou didn't like to pry, in this instance, it was beyond his control. The years of Weiss' life where she had Myrtenaster were now fully known to Shirou and he could call up any of the details he wanted no matter how much time passed. The best Shirou could do was not actively think of it. However, the glimpse he saw into Weiss' life before trying to shut the memories out made him grimace. It certainly cast the white-haired girl in a completely different light and Shirou made a note to put a bit more effort into getting along with her in the future.

The other was a longsword that, to most, was dull and ordinary; almost completely worthless as an actual weapon. To Shirou, however, it was the most amazing weapon he had seen ever since arriving on Remnant. It was very old and heavily worn by age and use and its appearance was certainly very plain but there was one simple fact that made it greater than most others: It was a Noble Phantasm. Its history was long and fascinating and its capabilities, if properly utilized, placed it as a high Rank B, low Rank A in terms of power. When Shirou had caught a glimpse of it, it took a considerable amount of willpower to not react in any way, especially considering who its current owner was.

The sword was named Crocea Mors and it was the weapon of Jaune Arc. As a bonus, the shield was able to be reproduced as well.

As far as Jaune's life went, there actually wasn't that much recorded directly by the sword. It had apparently been just a family heirloom hanging on a wall of their house before Jaune had taken it when he needed a weapon. However, what it did reveal was highly worrisome. At first, Shirou couldn't even begin to imagine why Ozpin would let someone who had no combat experience whatsoever into Beacon but then he considered the sword's power and history. Banking on Jaune being able to rise up to his family's legacy and awaken Crocea Mors was not a bet Shirou would have liked to take but the potential payoff was staggering. There wasn't much he felt like he could do at this point so he decided to just play this one by ear and help whenever he could.

With a gentle sigh, Shirou returned his mind to the outer world. It was now nearly one in the morning and he really needed to get some sleep. It had been a long and slightly bothersome day but Shirou found that he was looking forward to the next one. There was no doubt that his peaceful days at this school, however long they lasted, wouldn't be peaceful at all and instead full of chaos and drama but that prospect filled him with a vague excitement. It had been a lifetime since he had been able to live something like a normal life, after all.

This was truly far better than he could ever possibly deserve.

OoOoOoO

Shirou hummed to himself as he worked on breakfast. He was in a fairly good mood since it had been a rare night where he hadn't been awoken by nightmares. He actually had to rely on his alarm and thus had to cut his morning training (he was really grateful that he didn't share his room since that made his morning routine a lot easier) short in order to get breakfast made on time. For that matter, this was also the first time since he came to Remnant where he was intentionally preparing a full meal for others and the familiarity of the act brought back countless bittersweet memories. As if that wasn't enough, the kitchen on this floor of the dorms had been far better stocked than the one near the ballroom had been so he had been free to make a properly decent meal this time. He couldn't wait to see Nora and Ren's reaction when they tasted his food when he wasn't being held back.

Speaking of those two, Shirou caught a faint whiff of ozone in the air that signaled Nora's approach and that meant Ren had to be there as well. Just as he started laying out the plates, he paused and sniffed the air again. There were two other scents with Nora's that he only vaguely recognized. One conveyed a deep warmth with a not unpleasant metallic touch while the other smelled faintly of lemons. If Shirou had to guess, the other two were Jaune and Pyrrha but the question remained of which was which. Regardless, Shirou was glad that he had predicted this possibility and had made enough to feed four people while also leaving everything ready to whip up a fifth serving.

When Team JNPR finally stepped into the room, Shirou was surprised to find all of them, even Pyrrha, half-asleep and still wearing their pajamas. Only Ren had a different expression on his face and it was an embarrassed smile.

"When I tried to get Nora up, she kind of fell out of her bed and knocked over some stuff," Ren explained before Shirou had time to so much as blink.

Shirou chuckled and waved off his concern, "That's fine. I kind of expected it anyway. Feel free to help yourself. There's enough for four people there."

"Oh, no, we couldn't! Jaune and I just happened to wake up so we decided to go ahead and get started on the day! We really couldn't impose on you and your offer to Ren and Nora!" Pyrrha said quickly, waving her hands back and forth in front of her even as her mouth started visibly watering and her stomach audibly growled. She froze at the sound as her face started to match her hair.

Shirou laughed more fully at this, "Please, I insist. Like I told Ren last night, it's no imposition at all. Again, please feel free to help yourselves." As Shirou turned his attention back to his cooking, Team JNPR had a quick, whispered conversation before sitting down at the table. When Shirou returned with his own plate, he found that no one had touched their food yet. He just smiled appreciatively at them before they all began eating.

It took all of one bite before Jaune and Pyrrha fell under the spell of Shirou's food. Pyrrha had to expend great effort to not just wolf it down while Jaune failed utterly and ate with a ferocity that reminded Shirou of a certain tiger. Even Nora and Ren, who had been prepared for this, weren't prepared for this as their tongues were assaulted by a world of flavor the likes of which they could barely comprehend.

Once everyone had finished eating and Team JNPR had finished lavishing Shirou with praise, Shirou collected all of the dishes and deposited them in the sink before turning his attention back to the stove.

"You cooking something else, Shirou?" Jaune asked as he reclined in his chair and patted his stomach. Everyone wore utterly satisfied expressions and no one even seemed to notice when Nora loudly burped.

"Yes, my lunch. I have a lot more options if I prepare it now."

"But wouldn't that limit your options?" Ren asked. "After all, most dishes are best served hot and an insulator can only do so much. Unless you're planning on using a microwave later?"

Shirou chuckled at this ignorant way of thinking. "You'd be surprised what one can do with the right preparation," he said somewhat cryptically. He idly wondered if he had been spending too much time talking to Ozpin.

"Whatever you're making, I'm sure it'll be spectacular," Pyrrha said as she checked her scroll. "It's 7:30 now. We should hurry and finish getting ready before we're late for our class at 9."

"Yeah, alright," Jaune said as he got up and stretched, "but there's something else we've gotta do first." The rest of JNPR looked at their leader curiously as he rolled up his sleeves. "We've gotta do the dishes," he said somewhat incredulously. "Shirou did the cooking so we clean up. That's the way it always worked at my house." The others stared at him for a second longer before quickly getting up and following his lead. Shirou had contemplated turning down their help since that isn't how it worked at his house at all but he found he didn't have it in him.

Half an hour later, Shirou met up with Team JNPR in front of their dorm room and the group began to make their way to their first class. It was still rather early but this gave them plenty of time to get there without worry. Shirou found it slightly curious that he hadn't heard a peep out of Team RWBY's dorm but he put that aside. After all, they surely wouldn't forget to plan appropriately for their first class, right?

* * *

A/N: A number of things this time. For starters, a big thanks to everyone who's faved, followed, and especially reviewed. Seeing a new notification of that never fails to make my day.

Second, some reviewers over on pointed out that Shirou could have saved himself last chapter using Rider's chain dagger. The reason why he didn't is because I, the author, forgot about it but, for the sake of avoiding a plothole, I'm going to say that this Shirou never saw it. Since there's no real place to bring this up in the story, not even as an omake, I'm going to go ahead and say that Emiya Shirou has seen Kanshou & Bakuya, Rule Breaker, Caliburn (for some definition of the word "seen") Gae Bulg, Monohoshizao, and Berserker's Axe-Sword along with a number of weapons in Gilgamesh's vault. It's a little contrived, to be sure, but that's basically all I can do.

Third, this was a pretty slow chapter but I had a lot of fun with it since I got to do some worldbuilding and explain how certain things work on Remnant. I know I've had a few questions in regards to these things before so I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as I did. For an added effect, try listening to "The End of Reminiscence" from Fate/stay night during the scene with Shirou in his room.

Forth, those familiar with the visual novel should find Shirou's flat look to be very familiar.

Lastly, have a new omake:

 **Omake 2  
** A Dark Shadow  
During V1C4

Deep in Vale's warehouse district, in the office of the most out-of-the-way warehouse he could find, sat Roman Torchwick. Being Vale's self-proclaimed greatest crime boss, Roman made sure to always be dressed to the nines and to carrying himself with impeccable style and power. With his red-lined white suit jacket; black pants, shoes, and gloves; small, gray scarf; and red-banded, black bowler hat (his personal favorite), he looked like a man who lived high on the finer things of life. His bright orange hair, the bangs of which were almost always swept over one of his green eyes, used to be a point of contention in his younger days but now his distinctive hair and dress just served to inspire fear and respect.

As Roman kicked his feet up onto his desk and lit a fine cigar with a custom-made lighter, he reflected on just how perfectly everything had been going lately. Sure, that Cinder bitch had been really bossy and working with the White Fang wasn't really a highlight of his career (he honestly didn't give two shits about the Faunus but working with people who looked down on him grinded his gears) but his profit margin was through the roof and he stood to gain even more soon enough. He might even have enough to forego using abandoned warehouses as a base and instead purchase a business to use as a front or even start bribing politicians to make his life a bit easier.

Of course, not all was sunshine and roses. That girl that had thwarted one of his robberies a bit over a week back had been all kinds of annoying and the phone call he just had with his contact in the White Fang could have gone better but it'd all work out. He just had to play his cards right, keep an eye on things, and he'd come out on top no problem.

Right on time, a White Fang courier came into his office with a trolley carrying a large crate. With practiced ease, Roman reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out a stack of Lien before tossing it onto his desk.

"Open it," Roman commanded after the courier took the cash. The courier pulled out a crowbar and popped open the lid of the crate revealing a large cache of Dust crystals of all colors. Roman got up and casually walked around his desk before withdrawing a blue crystal and examining it. As the dim light from the overhead lamp reflected off of the crystal's flawless surface, Roman couldn't help the wicked smile that came to his lips. As he turned to face the map of Vale on the wall and his eyes fell to the large circle marking Beacon Academy, he had but one thing to say:

"We're gonna need more men…"


	5. V1C5: To Those Who Lead

Weiss Schnee was a person who was full of flaws. Despite her insistence to the contrary, she was acutely aware of the fact that she was little _but_ flaws. Even with that being said, she had a few good points, even if they weren't really good enough, and she knew full well what she was and wasn't capable of. That fact alone put her more than a little at odds with her new partner, Ruby Rose. While they had gotten along fairly well the other day, the younger girl was brash, overly excitable, uncontrolled, unrefined, uncouth, and more than a little childish. She was the embodiment of every trait that Weiss had all but beaten out of her at an early age and it was infuriating.

It started off slowly, the resentment that was burning away at her heart. It had been just an ember, the tiniest of sparks, when Professor Ozpin had made Ruby the leader of the team over her and each action Ruby took that rubbed up against her nerves made is slowly grow. First, it had been the next morning with that obnoxious whistle and insisting on bunk beds. While the idea _was_ a practical one and Weiss _had_ always wanted bunk beds as a child, that didn't change the fact that such an idea was childish and didn't stop her from practically feeling her father's disappointed gaze on her back. To make matters worse, Ruby's complete lack of ability to schedule things meant that they had been a few minutes late to their very first class, a fact that made her cheeks burn with shame even as Professor Port reassured them that tardiness would be acceptable this one time. A failure of Ruby's fault and yet another failure on hers.

Then came the class itself. Professor Port, in between his admittedly inane ramblings, went over the basics of an ideal Hunter and Weiss felt her frustration grow as she failed to identify any of those traits in her "leader" who had taken to doodling in her notebook at some point. When the time came for a demonstration, Weiss immediately volunteered, fully intending to prove herself against whatever Professor Port challenged her with.

Much to her chagrin, the Boarbatusk Professor Port had somehow captured proved to be more of a challenge than Weiss expected. As if things couldn't get any worse, Ruby even had the gall to cheer her on and offer advice. While the advice was accurate, the assistance was infuriating and just further raised Weiss' ire even as she remained silent.

As the students filed out after class, Ruby, who had noticed her partner's declining mood, hurried along to catch up to her.

"Hey, Weiss!" she called out.

"What?" Weiss said tersely as she spared her "leader" no more than a glance.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked after she caught up. "You seem to be really angry for some reason."

Weiss had to grind her teeth to keep from lashing out even as she adopted the stoic mask that was practically her family's symbol. "I'm fine."

Ruby didn't buy it. "Are you sure? If something's wrong, you should talk about it. Maybe I can even help! If not, I'm sure Blake or Yang can."

Weiss quickened her pace a little as she struggled to keep her anger in check while keeping track of where she was going. "I said I'm fine. I don't need help from anyone, you least of all."

A hurt expression flashed across Ruby's face as her steps faltered. She quickly recomposed herself and caught back up to her partner. "What do mean by that? Why don't you want my help?"

"Ruby," Weiss abruptly stopped and spun on her heels to face the younger girl, inhaling sharply through her nose as she once again reigned in her temper, "I'm. Fine. I don't need anyone's help. There are just some problems I need to get sorted out and quickly. Now, we need to hurry before we're late for _another_ class."

Ruby frowned at the back of her partner as she practically stomped away. She seemed to just be making the other girl angrier with every word and she couldn't even begin to figure out why. They had been such good friends in the forest yesterday so what had changed? It just didn't make sense at all.

The rest of the day didn't improve Weiss' mood. Throughout all of the lectures, Ruby kept on doodling away in that notebook of hers, only occasionally paying proper attention, and she seemed to be more intent on making merry during the couple of practical exercises rather than taking them seriously.

During lunch, her eating behavior proved to be just as ill-mannered as Weiss imagined and her diet was simply childish. Lunch wasn't _all_ bad, though. Team JNPR seemed to be making a fuss about something Shirou had made called a tamale. He let everyone try one and Weiss had to admit that the taste was divine for such a simple food. He and Pyrrha were also impeccably well mannered which gave her a mild sense of comfort and made her wish that they were her teammates instead. Yang was just as bad as her sister while Blake was acceptable. Jaune wasn't as bad as the sisters but wasn't that great, either, while Ren was nearly as good as Shirou and Pyrrha. Nora, Weiss just completely refused to even look directly at.

After their last class for the day, Weiss was at her wit's end. Ruby's antics had only increased in number after lunch and she even had the gall to try and drag her into some of them. In fact, it seemed as if the younger girl had been actively flaunting her poor behavior and it was everything Weiss could do to not lash out at her in the middle of class. While Ruby making a spectacle out of herself reflected poorly on Weiss due to being both a teammate and her partner, the last thing she would do was make an even bigger one. If she managed to maintain her perfect behavior then, when the hammer inevitably fell, she could probably minimize the damage to herself.

Ruby, however, seemed intent to make that not possible. As they were leaving their last class, the younger girl pulled her aside.

"Weiss, I really think you should tell me what's wrong," Ruby said without preamble.

"I. Already. Told. You. I'm. Fine," Weiss' clenched fists were shaking, the skin around her knuckles even paler than she normally was, from the effort it took to keep her voice level.

"No, you're not. You've been in a bad mood ever since this morning and it's just been getting worse. So, come on, tell me what's wrong and let me help you. I'm your partner, right? That's what I'm here for."

Weiss couldn't take it. This incessant prodding was the final straw. "What's wrong with me‽ What's _wrong_ with me‽ _You're_ what's wrong with me! You're supposed to be a leader and all you've been is a nuisance!"

Ruby's eyes widened as she was practically rocked back on her heels, taken aback by her partner's sudden vehemence. "What did I do?" she asked, her voice largely confused but with a hint of rising anger.

"What _haven't_ you done‽ You showed some promise in the forest but, ever since then, you've been nothing but lackadaisical and childish!"

"Weiss, where is this coming from? What happened to all that talk about 'making me shape up'? I thought you were fine with being on a team with me."

"On a team _with_ you, not on a team _led_ by you! I've studied and trained and sweat and bled my whole life to become a Huntress, to become a proper leader, only for _this_ to happen‽ I'm not only _not_ made the leader, the one who _is_ is someone who can _barely even eat properly!_ Quite frankly, I deserve better." Weiss turned sharply on her heels and started to march away. Ruby, utterly shellshocked, started to reach out to her retreating form, to try and somehow fix this, when the following words pierced her heart like an arrow:

"Professor Ozpin made a mistake."

Ruby Rose was confused. No, far more than that, she felt like she was lost in a daze. It just didn't make sense. Nothing made sense. She and Weiss had gotten along so well yesterday and made such an amazing team. Weiss had rushed to her aid when she tried to fight the Death Stalker alone. She had gone along with her plan to take down the Nevermore without complaint. Sure, she was a little harsh sometimes but she was well-intentioned and Ruby had to admit that she was a little careless sometimes so it's not like Weiss' complaints back then had been without merit. This, however, this just didn't make any sense no matter how much she thought about it. It was such a complete reversal of how she acted prior that, even after Weiss had been gone for a couple of minutes, Ruby hadn't moved an inch. She was just thankful that she had the forethought to pull Weiss aside to a relatively private area so no one had seen the heiress blow up on her.

"Hmm… Now that didn't seem to go very well." No one, that was, except for Professor Ozpin who was now standing behind her. Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin as she whirled around before placing a hand over her heart and trying to steady her breathing. Ozpin, for his part, simply smiled and took a sip of his cocoa as he adjusted his grip on his cane.

"I-is she right?" Ruby asked, nearly on the verge of tears. "Did you make a mistake?"

Ozpin chuckled slightly, "That remains to be seen."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that it's only been one day. Ruby… I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet but, at this moment, I don't consider your appointment to leader to be one of them." Ozpin leaned forward so he could peer intently and inquisitively at Ruby over his wire-framed glasses. "Do you?"

Ruby looked doubtful as she answered, "I-I don't know. I mean, I was really surprised when you made the announcement. I've never led anyone before and I honestly don't think I have what it takes to be one."

"And yet you're still trying your best, aren't you?"

"Of course I am! I know I'm making a lot of mistakes and that the others would probably be better but I'm the one you made leader so I don't really have a choice. The others are now depending on me to lead them but all I've done today is mess things up. I made us late for our first class and all of my attempts to cheer Weiss up just lead to- to- to- to _that_!"

"What you've said is exactly why I chose you to be the leader, Ruby. You can see the flaws in yourself, the strength in others, and strive to make everyone as happy as can be. The fact that your failure to do that is eating you this much speaks volumes to me and no doubt to every other teacher here, if they knew. To those who lead, the wellbeing of their team comes first and foremost. A good leader realizes that they're nothing without the support of their team and works hard to live up to their efforts.

"You may have made mistakes today and will undoubtedly make more mistakes in the future but you must understand that you're only fifteen and, as you said, have never led anyone before outside of battle. If you managed to perform your duties flawlessly without any prior experience, it would be a miracle. However, the mark of a true leader is not in their ability to avoid making mistakes but in their ability to overcome the mistakes they've made. Anyone intelligent or wise enough can avoid mistakes, and those things will come to you in time, but it takes a truly strong character to admit to and overcome mistakes once they've been made.

"You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. You can't allow yourself to not be performing at your best, not even for a moment, for your team will look to you for strength. You must serve as a shining beacon for them even while they push you forward from behind. The pressure will be incredible. However, I fully believe that, if you keep going as you are and give yourself a little more credit, you'll be a magnificent leader." Ozpin turned away and gave one last bit of advice before walking away, "I advise you to take some time and think about how you will uphold your responsibility."

Ruby's head swam as she leaned back against the wall for support. Professor Ozpin's words were ringing in her ears long after he left and it took everything she had to sort through and examine them all. It would take a while for her mind to settle and longer still for her to fully absorb the meaning of what she had been told but the fire of determination that had flared to life in her made her steps unwavering.

She needed to find Weiss and make things right no matter what.

OoOoOoO

Weiss wandered aimlessly through the halls of Beacon's main building, her mind racing with clouded thoughts. While somewhat satisfying, going off on Ruby like that had been a breach of proper decorum. She should have aired her grievances in a calm manner in a more isolated setting. There was no point in worrying too much about it, though. She couldn't go back and undo her mistakes so all she could do now is live with them and hope that no one, or at least not too many people, had witnessed her.

Her lapse of self-control aside, Weiss also felt a little bad about how she had worded the whole thing. Everything she had said was the absolute truth and she would never want to change the meaning but the delivery could have been handled much better. Ruby was, after all, two years her younger and thus, as her elder, it was her responsibility to set a proper example for her. That had absolutely _not_ been a good example of how a proper lady and Huntress should act.

So lost in thought was Weiss that she almost didn't notice Shirou before it was too late. In her wanderings, she had made her way to one of Beacon's balconies and Shirou was leaned against the railing and staring out into the sunset, his expression unreadable.

"Hey, Weiss," Shirou said as he spared the heiress a glance.

"Hello, Shirou," Weiss replied before deciding to join him. "What are you doing here?"

"I decided to take a little walk to clear my head before taking care of my homework. The sunset caught my attention so I decided to enjoy it. You?"

"I'm… much the same. A good constitutional to get the blood flowing is excellent to help improve focus."

"Right." Whether Shirou had bought the lie or not, Weiss couldn't tell. They stayed in a semi-comfortable silence for a while, watching the sun slowly sink over the horizon, before Weiss decided to speak up again.

"I have to say that you got really lucky. Not being on a team or having a partner must be nice."

"In some ways," Shirou allowed, "but I wouldn't say I'm lucky. If anything, it's just the opposite. Officially speaking, I'm in this on my own. Without anyone to rely on, I have to handle everything by myself. My success or failure is entirely dependent upon myself."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"That's because it is."

"Wouldn't being on your own be preferable to being teamed up with someone beneath you?"

"I wouldn't say so. It could be under certain circumstances but not most of them. Besides, out of all of our classmates I've interacted with, I wouldn't say anyone here is so mismatched that it's worth considering."

"You're saying that there's no issue with the team assignments?"

"I don't think there is. Based on my limited observations, Teams RWBY and JNPR are basically perfectly balanced. It's almost enough to make one believe in destiny."

"Perfectly balanced? You can't seriously believe that. You mean to tell me that R— That Jaune and Pyrrha are perfectly balanced?"

If Shirou noticed Weiss' near slip, he didn't show it. "Yeah. Sure, if you look at their combat abilities, Jaune can't even begin to compare to Pyrrha. He can't really measure up to her in most ways, really. However, there's a lot more to teams than that. Even if one member of a team is better than the other in every measurable way, that weaker member could still be invaluable."

"I don't see how that can be true but, even if it is, Jaune could easily get Pyrrha killed one day." Weiss regretted the words the instant they left her mouth but there was no point in trying to take them back.

Shirou winced. "Yeah, that could definitely happen," he said, his gaze no longer at the sunset but at something far away, "but Pyrrha isn't infallible. She's not perfect. If he works hard enough, he can catch up to her. Of course, he doesn't even have to do that much to mitigate that risk. Judging by the story of how they defeated that Death Stalker, Jaune has already proven his worth."

"Maybe but he has no business leading her or the others. He's clearly the worst among them. Well, I suppose he's a better leader than Nora would be."

"I'll agree with you on that last part but not the others. Jaune has a charisma that the others sorely lack and he shows signs of possessing a strong tactical mind."

Weiss scoffed, "Next you'll tell me that you think Ruby was the perfect choice as the leader of my team."

Shirou looked at Weiss out of the corner of his eye, "That's because she is."

Weiss glared at Shirou, her voice suddenly icy, "What?"

"She really is. Sure, she's young and has a lot to learn— don't we all— but she has the same traits as Jaune but in spades and has a lot more going for her."

"You're crazy. I simply can't believe you. You're saying that Ruby is a better leader than I would be?"

"Yes, and the fact that you asked is exactly the reason why."

"What?" Weiss should have been angry at that remark but she was more confused than anything else.

"This is all just my opinion but a good leader is capable of working with whatever they're given. They can adapt to situations as quickly as they come. Someone who's a good leader also makes for a good subordinate since they don't question what's been given to them or complain about it, they just consider what they can do with it and keep looking forward. You're not looking forward, Weiss."

"I am too looking forward! I'm concerned that my team won't be their best with her as the leader!"

"Are you really?"

"I— O-of course I am!"

Shirou hummed. "Well, if that's what you're worried about then what are you complaining for? You're not the leader and that's that. It can't be changed baring circumstances no one wants. If you think Ruby isn't capable of filling that role then help her until she is. To those who lead, having a partner who you can fully rely on, who will help cover your weaknesses and push you to become stronger, is the most important thing. She can learn a lot from you and you from her."

"I can learn a lot from Ruby?" Weiss' voice had lost most of its earlier vehemence and the question was spoken in subdued contemplation; more to herself than to Shirou.

"Sure you can. You can learn a lot from everyone. Everyone can learn a lot from everyone. Everyone is different from everyone else and from those differences we can learn many things. That's what makes people special; what gives us our souls."

Weiss hummed and was silent for a long moment as both of them continued to watch the sun slowly sink behind the horizon. "I suppose," Weiss said at length.

"Well, I better get going. I need to finish my homework quickly so I can get dinner started." Weiss simply hummed as Shirou walked off, lost in thought once more.

A part of Weiss wanted to deny Shirou's words; to shore up on her defenses and simply say that he knew not what was he was talking about. However, for the most part, she couldn't deny the truth in much of what he said. Even before this, she would have said that a good leader must be able to work with whatever they're given and always be looking forward. She agreed that Ruby had a strong tactical mind and high charisma (the entire ordeal with the Nevermore and the ease Weiss had in talking with her proved that). She agreed that a good leader would also make for a good subordinate or partner. Similarly, she agreed with the implication that she wasn't being a very good partner right now. Yet another among her laundry list of failures.

Not only that, Weiss could tell that Shirou's words came not from mere thinking and supposition but from observation and first-hand experience. It was evident in the assuredness of which he spoke and the way he had been able to counter everything with ease. Even his insistence that Jaune could catch up with Pyrrha sounded like it came more from experience with chasing an unreachable ideal than from simple optimism. Even if Weiss hadn't already, on some level, agreed with basically everything he said, she suspected that his conviction might have been able to make her rethink her position.

Shaking her head, Weiss gave one last look at the setting sun before turning around. There was something she now needed to do that was paramount.

She needed to find Ruby and make things right no matter what.

OoOoOoO

Ruby sat down on the edge of the courtyard fountain, staring up at the night sky with a deep sigh. She'd been looking all over for Weiss for the past hour-and-a-half and hadn't been able to find her. Yang and Blake hadn't seen her since their last class early that day and Shirou had commented that he talked to her on one of the balconies but the other girl had been long gone by the time she got there.

It was only fair, she supposed. Ruby's mistakes had caused Weiss to become angry with her and now she didn't want to talk to or even see her. It made sense and she really couldn't blame her. She really hadn't been doing a good job as a leader, after all, and Weiss truly did deserve better. More than that, she was the one who deserved to be the leader. Ruby had no doubt that the heiress would be far better than she could ever even hope to be. Someone who was full of mistakes and flaws like she was could never hope to measure up to someone who walked through life with such grace and ease that she made everything appear nearly effortless. Even if Ozpin said that it hadn't been a mistake to make her the leader, there was still no denying that Weiss would have been the better choice.

As Ruby stared up at the endless blanket of stars above, she completely missed the sound of footsteps approaching her. "There you are, Ruby," a female voice said.

With a start, Ruby whirled around to see the very girl she had been searching for standing not five feet from her. "Oh, W-Weiss! You're here! Great! See, I was kinda looking for you and—" Ruby immediately fell silent when Weiss raised a hand.

"Before you say anything, there are some things I need to say first." Weiss took a deep breath to steady her nerves and swallow her pride before continuing on, "I— I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. For how I acted all day. It was… childish… of me to attack you like that because I didn't get my way. So I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, Weiss," Ruby said softly in wonderment. "You were right. I really haven't been taking this as seriously as I should have been and I've just been making mistakes all day. You really would be a much better leader than me, Weiss, but I can't change our roles. But I _will_ do everything I can to live up to your standards, Weiss. Yours and Blake's and Yang's, too. I know I'm not a good leader but I promise I'll do my best to become one."

Weiss simply stared wide-eyed at Ruby for a long while, utterly astonished by what she had just heard. By any rational observation, it was clearly Weiss who was in the wrong and yet here Ruby was, apologizing for her perceived errors and promising to do better in the future. The… _simplicity_ and earnestness of it were enough to stun Weiss speechless.

Weiss certainly wasn't good enough to be Ruby's partner.

"No, I was wrong," Weiss said once she managed to get her tongue working again. "You've handled this far better than I have. My grievances with you are… petty. Said not out of legitimate concern for the welfare of our team but because I detested the fact that what I thought was rightfully mine had been taken. I really wouldn't have been a better leader, Ruby. We still would have been late to our first class and nothing else would have changed."

"What are these… grievances you have with me? Even if they're petty, I still want to know." Ruby chose not to comment on anything else, feeling that it would be best to simply agree to disagree. "You said something about how I eat before?"

"Oh, that's nothing," Weiss tried to wave her off. "It's just that I find your diet and eating habits to be… wanting. As for the others, well, honestly, there's only just one and I guess it really isn't petty. You really should pay attention in class more."

Ruby looked confused, "But I _am_ paying attention in class."

Weiss gave Ruby an incredulous look, "Then why is it that I always saw you doodling whenever I glanced over at you?"

Ruby stared in confusion for a few moments more before a look of understanding washed over her face. "Oh!" she said as she pulled her notebook out from her satchel. "Here, see for yourself." Ruby flipped open to a random page and showed it to Weiss.

It was hard to make out in the low lighting but Weiss could see a number of surprisingly good sketches and, tucked away in the inside margins were— "Recall words?"

Ruby nodded, "Yup! You see, when I was a kid, I had a lot of trouble in school. I could never really pay attention for too long and would keep zoning out and missing half the class. A few years ago, I learned about a few things and decided to combine them. So I doodle during lectures if I feel my attention drifting and use the lecture as background noise. Every now and then, I'll write down a word or phrase that I can read later to help me remember the important stuff. Once I started doing that, I had no problem."

"I see," Weiss said as she stared at the pages in amazement. "Then this is another fault on my end. I should have asked you about it instead of assuming the worst."

"Oh, no, it's okay, really," Ruby said as Weiss returned the notebook. "If you don't know about it, it _does_ look really bad and it's not like you could see the words from where you sit."

Weiss gently shook her head but let it slide. She had no idea why Ruby felt the need to take the blame for Weiss' mistakes but that was something she would have to live with and something she would have to try and correct one way or another. They might be partners but there was simply no sense in Weiss' countless flaws bringing Ruby down any more than they already would.

"It's getting late," Weiss observed, "and I bet neither of us has eaten since lunch or started our homework. Come on. Let's see if we can find something to eat and work on it together."

"Yeah, I'd really like that," Ruby said with a smile.

When they went to scavenge the kitchen on their floor, they were surprised to find a large bento filled with more than enough food for two in the refrigerator. On the box was a label that read:

For Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee  
— Emiya Shirou

* * *

A/N: As always, thank you all very for your reviews! Your feedback gives me life! The continued support this story gets never ceases to astound me!

Not much to say about this one other than the fact that I had a _lot_ of fun with it and I think it's probably one of the best chapters of Volume 1. One of my goals setting out with this story was to expand on the somewhat flat characters of RWBY and _especially_ Ruby herself. For someone who's supposedly our protagonist, who's the very first person we ever saw from this show, who this entire show is named after, Ruby is honestly kinda dull and doesn't do too much. Hopefully, with this chapter, I've injected a bit more personality into her. I also hope everyone enjoys what I'm doing with her and looks forward to seeing me explore and expand her character in the future.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a comment telling me what you liked or didn't about it. Your thoughts and opinions are very important to me. Until the next chapter!


	6. V1C6: Ever Distant Ideal

"... and while the mime _did_ survive, he was never able to walk again," Professor Port said, finishing up yet another long and ultimately pointless tangent. "Now, can anyone tell me the point of my story?"

Weiss' hand dutifully shot up. She answered when she was acknowledged, "If we cannot carefully apply our Aura to strengthen random objects, we may either be unable to protect someone or else hurt those we wish to protect."

"Very good! You truly are a model Huntress, my dear! Now, I know everyone here is capable of strengthening their weapons and themselves with their Aura but your weapons are designed to take the strain and it is impossible to hurt oneself with one's Aura. When it comes to everyday objects, however, the result can be quite catastrophic. However, once mastered, the skill is infinite in its applications and indispensable in its practicality. Observe." In one quick motion, Professor Port grabbed one of the ripe tomatoes from a basket and loaded it into his blunderbuss before firing it at a target on the opposite side of the room. Despite the incredible forces involved, the tomato struck the target and bounced off, not even so much as bruised.

"There. You see?" Professor Port asked as he held up the tomato for the class to inspect. Not much inspecting was done, however, for the sudden gunshot had left all but those who had gotten their Aura up in time gripping their ears in pain.

Once everyone got their hearing back, Professor Port continued, "Now, I want you all to come up here as I call you, take a tomato, and throw it at the target as hard as you can. Accuracy doesn't matter but the state of the tomato _does_ so feel free to take a few moments to concentrate before throwing it. Let's see, I think we'll start off with Emiya Shirou. Shirou, if you would?"

Shirou got up and made his way to the professor. Reinforcing an object with Aura and doing it with magecraft were practically identical so he knew he could do this exercise in his sleep. As such, he hurled the tomato at the target the instant he took it from Professor Port and watched idly as it struck the bulls-eye and bounced off, completely unharmed.

"Excellent work!" Professor Port said as he walked over to the tomato and picked it up. He squeezed it slightly and was surprised to find that it didn't give. "And with a lasting effect! Very good work indeed! I didn't peg you as much when you first walked in here but you have the makings of an excellent Huntsman, Shirou my boy! Go on, off to your seat!" Shirou had no idea if he should be flattered or insulted so he chose to be neither.

Professor Port went on to call up every other student in a seemingly random order. Several of them failed one way or the other— either the tomato was destroyed utterly when it struck the target or it exploded in their hand; Jaune was among the former and Nora was among the latter— but most managed to have some success. Aside from Shirou, the only ones able to do it perfectly were Pyrrha, Ren, and Weiss and only Pyrrha had done it with the same speed and accuracy as Shirou.

Once that first exercise was completed and everyone had a go, Professor Port had each student collect five tomatoes and tasked them to spend the rest of the class attempting to successfully strengthen one of them. When they thought they had it, they were to test it by striking it against their desk. Ren and Weiss were tasked with trying to reach this protected state as quickly as possible while Shirou and Pyrrha were allowed to do basically whatever they wished so long as it didn't disturb the others.

By the end of the class, Professor Port went around and checked on everyone's progress. Ruby had quite deliberately exploded two of hers before a pointed look from Weiss made her take it seriously. She managed it on the third without any real difficulty. Blake had taken two genuine efforts in order to get the amount just right and then lost a third when working on speed. Yang had also destroyed two of hers on purpose then proceeded to explode two on accident. The fifth one managed to withstand the impact but it didn't come out of it unscathed. As for Weiss, none of hers were destroyed but one was slightly bruised and she managed to reliably ready the strengthening in about five seconds as opposed to the ten or so it had taken her the first time.

Over with Team JNPR, Nora had failed utterly, exploding all five of her tomatoes. It was uncertain if that was by accident or design but Ren seemed to be taking it seriously so that was enough for the others. Ren managed to get his time down to two seconds from his previous seven and didn't even damage any of his. Pyrrha, not wanting to stand out too much more, decided to work on her control even though the exercise could confer no benefit for her. Jaune, meanwhile, utterly failed in even exploding one of his and had merely smashed them all against the desk.

Shirou spent the entire time is a light meditative trance in order to suppress the revulsion he was feeling at all of this wasted food.

"Excellent work, all of you!" Professor Port said after his examination was over and the bell rang. "I want you all to practice this on your own during the weekend. Come Monday, I'll test you not just with tomatoes but with a wide variety of items! Your performance then will be compared with your performance today and your grade will be determined from that! Now, off you go!"

"Man, I can't believe how poorly that went," Jaune moaned as he left the class with his team, his head and shoulders slumped in total defeat.

"I dunno, I thought it was fun!" Nora said as she continued to lick the remains of tomato off of her hands.

"It was certainly an enlightening exercise," Ren commented as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and used it to wipe some tomato off of Nora's face.

"I'm certain you'll get the hang of it, Jaune," Pyrrha said as she placed an encouraging hand on her leader's shoulder.

"You can say that, sure, but I don't even know where to being. I know you said something about it strengthening our equipment in the forest, Pyrrha, but I don't even know how to do that much!"

"You don't strengthen your weapons with your Aura?" Ren asked, suddenly _very_ interested.

"Nope."

"So, you're saying that you fought that Death Stalker with normal weapons?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yep." The rest of Team JNPR gave their leader a _very_ confused and concerned look. "What?" he said defensively when he finally noticed. "Crocea Mors just cut it and blocked it like a sword and shield should. What's so weird about that?"

"Jaune," Pyrrha said slowly, "normal weapons are mostly ineffective against the Grimm. They need to be empowered by our Aura to do anything. That's why only Hunters and the military fight them."

"Wait, really?" The rest of Team JNPR nodded so Jaune just threw his hands up in their air. "So I've got a magic sword. Great. Listen, I'm going to go back to Professor Port and ask for some help. I'll catch up with you guys later." Jaune's teammates waved him off as he turned back but his plan to speak with the professor changed when he spied a certain redhead walking out.

"Hey, Shirou, can you spare a minute?"

"Sure. What's up, Jaune?"

"Well, ya see, the thing is, you're pretty good at that whole Aura control thing." Shirou nodded his head when the other boy paused and waited for him to continue. "Well, ya see, the thing is, I'm kinda pretty completely awful at it." Shirou nodded again. "Well, ya see, the thing is, I was kinda wondering if you had some free time this evening after classes." Shirou nodded again. "Well, ya see—"

Shirou held out his hand, feeling a headache coming on, "Can you please get to the point?"

"Will you help me practice with it?" Jaune said quickly.

"Sure, I don't mind, but why aren't you asking Pyrrha or Ren for help?"

"Ren's going to be really busy trying to help Nora and Pyrrha, well, I'd just feel bad if I asked her. She's just super amazing and I don't want to waste her time with this when she could be doing something better."

Shirou was curious as to why Pyrrha's skills made her unchoosable when his didn't but decided not to voice that curiosity. "I highly doubt that she'll see it that way but, if you insist, I'll help you. Can you meet me at my room at six?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem! Thanks, Shirou!"

"Don't mention it. Come on, we're going to be late."

OoOoOoO

Shirou and Jaune sat on the floor of Shirou's room facing each other, their respective weapons setting across their laps. The process Jaune needed to learn was simplicity itself and while the way Shirou had been taught had actually been for learning magecraft, he figured that the method would work well enough here with some tweaks. It would probably be highly unorthodox but, so long as the results were good, he figured no one would care.

"Alright, Jaune. We're going to start with some meditation exercises to get your mind clear and focused. Are you comfortable? Good. Now, make sure you're sitting up straight and let's begin.

"Start by taking slow, deep breaths; in through the nose, out through the mouth. You want to maintain a soft focus here; looking ahead but not at anything in particular. Feel the weight of your body pressing down on the floor, the feeling of your hands on her knees. Take in the sounds of the room and everything outside it. Acknowledge everything but focus on nothing. If a stray thought enters your head, don't try to push it out. Just acknowledge it and let it pass."

Shirou let Jaune continue in this way for ten seconds. "When you're ready, on your next out-breath, gently close your eyes and let yourself fall into a normal breathing pattern. You don't need to breathe in any special way, just whatever way feels most comfortable to you. As you breathe, pull your focus inward. There should be a spark of warmth in your core. Do you feel it? Nod your head if you do.

"Good. Focus on that spark. Feel how its heat spreads slowly through your body. If a stray thought enters your mind, that's fine. Just acknowledge it for what it is, a thought, and let it pass. Don't try to force it out, just let it pass and return your focus to that spark. Just focus on it for a moment. Examine how it feels, what you can feel it connect to, how your awareness of it is making you feel."

Shirou lapsed into silence for three minutes this time. "Now, I want you to activate your Aura while maintaining focus on that spark." Shirou smiled slightly as he watched Jaune's eyebrows shoot up. "That little spark is now everywhere, isn't it? It's more like a fire filling your entire body now. That's your Aura that you're feeling, Jaune. Your soul. This is the source of your life made manifest to become your power. The stronger your soul is, the stronger your Aura will be.

"And now you're going to hold like this. With your Aura still activated, I want you to feel it out. Poke at its edges. See how it envelops your body and heightens your capabilities. Get a feel for all of the changes. Just let your mind sink into it. Again, if your mind wanders, which it will, just acknowledge the thought for what it is and bring your focus back."

Shirou let Jaune hold his meditation for nearly ten minutes and only brought a stop to it when the other boy's fidgeting had grown to a certain level. "Good. Now I want you to release your focus; let your mind go wherever it wishes. Think about whatever it wants to think about. Pay attention to whatever feeling it wants to. Just let it do what it wants." Ten seconds passed. "Now bring the mind back in as you become more aware of the weight of your body on the floor, of the sounds and sensations around you. Whenever you're ready, I want you to gently open your eyes.

"So? How do you feel? Take a moment, if you want."

"I feel… better. More relaxed. Kinda sleepy."

"Good. And your Aura? Can you still feel that?"

"Kinda? I know its there and it kinda feels like I can feel it but I don't really know."

"That's fine. Was this your first time meditating?"

"Yeah. I've never done anything like this before. Thought it was something those super serious martial arts guys did all the time to, I dunno, float or something."

Shirou chuckled slightly, "Some use it for something like that, sure, but it's a lot simpler than most people think. Anyway, you did very well for it being your first time. We're going to keep at this until you can feel your Aura without having to focus on it. Or at least not focus _too_ much. Can you meet me tomorrow morning half an hour before our usual breakfast time?"

"That's pretty early but sure. We gonna be doing this then?"

"That's right. I want to try and get you to that point before the day's out."

"That sounds like a lot of work but I'm game. Well, I'm gonna go grab something to eat. Thanks again for the help."

"No problem, Jaune."

OoOoOoO

Saturday evening came to find Shirou and Jaune once again meditating in Shirou's room. This was the fourth session that day and Jaune's progress had been promising. By the second session, he had been able to feel his Aura without active concentration and they were now moving on to the task of expanding his Aura to envelop Crocea Mors or anything else he was touching.

"I want you to picture your sword in your mind's eye," Shirou said, his voice calm as he guided Jaune through the exercise. "Try your best to imagine every detail about it. Once that image is firm in your mind, imagine yourself wielding it. Now think of the sword not as a tool but as a part of yourself. It is an extension of yourself that is incapable of doing anything that you are incapable of doing. It doesn't empower you. It doesn't grant you powers. It is you, no more or less. Now let the heat of your Aura envelop you fully. That sword is the same as any other part of your body and if it isn't protected then you aren't fully protected. When you're ready, open your eyes."

A solid minute passed before Jaune's eyes finally opened. "I think I've got it," he said, "but how can we check?"

"Easy," Shirou said as he got up and motioned for Jaune to do the same. "I'll strike it. Hold your sword ready to block an overhead strike." The stance that Jaune adopted was weak and full of holes but it'd do. "Now stand still." Shirou brought down his black blade on Crocea Mors and watched as Jaune barely managed to hold his guard despite Shirou not putting that much into it. "Did you feel anything?"

"Yeah, it felt like… something was leaving me. My Aura doesn't feel as… full."

"Perfect. You've got it."

"Alright!" Jaune said as he pumped his fist into the air. "So can we work on fruit next?"

"Nope," Shirou said casually as he sheathed his sword and put it away.

Jaune's expression went from excited to crestfallen so fast that Shirou was surprised he didn't pull a muscle. "But why‽"

"Because it's not my place. I helped you get this far because you're my friend but if you want to get further, you need to look to someone else."

"But there is no one else! Ren is still working with Nora!"

"Then ask Pyrrha."

"I already told you why I can't ask Pyrrha! She's just… way too amazing! She's way better than I'll ever be! I can't drag her down by asking her to pull me up!"

"That's where you'd be wrong, Jaune. Pyrrha's your partner, isn't she? That means, at least for the next four years, she's with you no matter what."

"All the more reason not to bother her. Sure, she's my ideal as a Hunter but she's just so far away. I can look on and admire all I want but there's no way I can do anything more."

Shirou looked off to the side and bit his lip as he quickly warred with himself. Eventually, his desire to help others won out. "Listen, Jaune, I'm going to tell you some things, okay?" At Jaune's confused look, Shirou walked over to the bed and sat down heavily before motioning towards the chair. Once Jaune was situated, Shirou began, "Do you want to know where I learned swordplay?"

"I don't know what this has to do with anything but sure."

"Well, I learned a bit from my father before he died. Then I learned a lot from someone who I considered by big sister. She didn't have any real combat experience but she was scary good at kendo and that's what she taught me. I learned a lot of really important stuff from her but the one who really showed how to fight was someone else.

"You've seen me fight in some of our lessons, right? Well, my fighting style is just a pale imitation of _hers_. There was this girl who was… my Pyrrha, I guess you could say. She suddenly came into my life and changed everything. She was a horrid teacher but she sparred with me for hours every day so I could learn from her and improve. She was truly amazing. I had never before seen someone so skillful with the sword and I've never seen someone as good since. Her form was flawless, her attacks were as fast as a raging hurricane, and her power was like a stray bolt of lighting. Even though I was pretty good when I started and despite all of the progress I made, I never even came close to landing a hit on her. She was my ideal in so many ways but never once did I come close enough to stand by her side."

"Well, who is she? She sounds amazing. Do I know her? Is she here?"

"She's dead. She has been for some time now. And no, you didn't know of her. No one here does."

Jaune's expression fell even as he watched his friend fight to hold back his emotions. He'd never seen Shirou with an expression that wasn't a faint smile or concern but now that his mask had come off, he could see the fractures. He could see the vast pain and sorrow in his friend's eyes and, in a flash of insight, knew that there was a _lot_ more to this story than he was letting on. "Oh, I-I'm sorry." He didn't press it. He _couldn't_ press it. If there was one thing Jaune didn't want to do, it was causing others pain and his friend had experienced more than enough of that for several lifetimes.

"It's okay. You couldn't have known. Anyway, she was as distant from me the day she died as she was the day she came into my life. Even now, I'm no closer to her. But I still chase after her. I'll _always_ chase after her. I know that I will never be good enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her but I still keep chasing her. Because I can do no less.

"Learn from Pyrrha, Jaune. Talk to her. Open up to her. Don't be afraid of her. She may be an ever distant ideal to you, as far from you as Remnant is from the Sun, but don't let that stop you. And, most importantly, remember that she's Human, just like you. No matter how skilled she is at everything, she's still a Human just like you. Reach out to her and I'm certain that she'll reach right back for you just as _she_ had reached back for me."

Jaune was silent for a long moment after Shirou finished, absorbing everything. The weight of emotion was thick in the air as his mind turned his friend's words over again and again. It was obvious, even to him, that Shirou and this woman had been very close before she died. This woman had been his ideal and he had chased after her with everything he had. While he had no idea as to the exact nature of their relationship, it still gave him pause. Could he one day be as close to Pyrrha as Shirou seemed to have been with that woman? There's absolutely no way he can ever be as good as she was in combat but maybe, just maybe, he can support her in other ways as her friend? As her partner, even?

Jaune thought back to a week ago when they had been preparing for their entrance exam. Back then, Shirou had said that he didn't have to be nearly as good as Pyrrha to be a good teammate. Ruby has said that a good teammate can cover for their team's weaknesses. Pyrrha had just straigh up said that he'd be a good teammate. It was a ludicrous idea no matter how much he thought about it but it was one that appealed to him greatly. He felt pulled towards it. For the first time in his life, Jaune felt like there was something he simply had to do.

"You're right," Jaune eventually said. "Thanks, Shirou. For everything. I'm gonna go talk with Pyrrha."

Shirou smiled at his friend, "You're welcome, Jaune. Good luck."

When the door to his room clicked shut and he knew he was alone, Shirou let out a long sigh and leaned back against the wall. With his eyes closed, he let his mind sink into his core to the artifact that was there. The only physical proof of her existence that wasn't a fake made from prana. The item that saved him time and time again and served as his undeniable link to her. An object that had been with him for so long that his body was familiar with it on a level greater than any other.

It thrummed in response to the contact of his mind. Shirou fed a bit of his prana into it and felt its warmth radiate outward, consuming him whole. This was his guide; the stick by which he measured his life. So long as it reacted in a welcoming manner like this, he knew he was on the right track. He knew that he would never be able to live up to her, who had owned it before, but he was content with it guiding him on the way all the same. Of course, a dark corner of his soul pointed out that perhaps its judgment wasn't sound. Perhaps it would react that way no matter what sins he committed.

After all, the sheath still reacted this way even though his beloved Saber, who had been its previous owner, had been killed by his own hands.

OoOoOoO

Jaune stood outside the door of his team's room and tried to calm his racing heart. While he had already made up his mind to follow Shirou's advice, the simple fact of the matter was that the courage to ask had to first be built up. It's not that he feared rejection in this case, it's just that asking Pyrrha for help given everything was very difficult.

Swallowing his doubts, Jaune opened the door to his team's room. As luck would have it, Pyrrha was the only one in the room at the moment. Ren and Nora were currently elsewhere practicing with the very skill Jaune needed help with.

"Hello, Jaune," Pyrrha said with a smile as she looked up from the book she had been reading. "That didn't take very long. Everything go okay?"

"Yeah, everything's pretty fine. Hey, listen, Pyrrha, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, Jaune, anything," Pyrrha said as she put her book down and sat up in her bed to face him.

"Would you mind, uh, helping me with the, uh, whole fruit thing?"

"The exercise Professor Port assigned us? Sure but I thought Shirou was helping you."

"He is! Or, rather, he was. Getting me to the starting line, that is. See, I kinda had no idea how to even put my Aura into things so he helped me get that far."

"Why did he stop there?"

"Ya see, we talked about a few things and I just realized that I'd… really rather be… trained… by… you… if you don't mind," Jaune said while nervously shuffling his feet. "It's okay if you don't! I'd understand! You're probably super busy with other stuff!"

Pyrrha blinked in stunned surprise for a few moments before beaming at her leader, "Sure thing, Jaune. I'd be more than happy to help. Come on, let's go outside. Twigs and sticks work well for this exercise."

"Why not use fruit?"

"Well, for one, Nora and Ren are using the kitchen on this floor for practice. For two, given his reaction during the lesson yesterday, I'm pretty sure Shirou would die from shock if we wasted _too_ much food."

Jaune chuckled, "Yeah, you're probably right."

As the pair lapsed into a casual conversation as made their way outside, Jaune couldn't help but replay his conversation with Shirou one last time. He had no idea what happened to that girl he had spoken so fondly about but he knew one thing with absolute certainty: He wouldn't be afraid anymore. He would chase after his ideal with everything he had and he wouldn't stop no matter what. The more he paid attention to Pyrrha rather than just practically dismissing her as being so far away as to not be worth considering, the more he started to see past the self she showed the world. The glimpses were infinitesimally small and so brief that they were almost impossible to notice but he was noticing them more and more. He had no idea what those tiny cracks meant but he would become a teammate she could depend on. That much he swore.

"Hey, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over them as they walked over to a cluster of trees.

"Yes, Jaune?"

"Thanks. For everything."

* * *

A/N: As always, a big thanks to everyone who's fav'd, followed, and especially reviewed!

And now the truth is out. In case you didn't know beforehand, the mysterious woman Shirou referred to in his narration in the previous chapters was Saber. The fact that Shirou killed Saber should be very eye-opening to those who are familiar with the original visual novel. I'd just like to once again say that this Shirou didn't follow any exact route. His Holy Grail War was a bit different.

Now that this has been revealed, I can finally point out that Shirou's Hunter attire, that armor that he wears, is based on Protype Arthur. He requested it to be that way when Ozpin asked in order to honor Saber's memory.

Lastly, have an omake! This should have been posted with the last chapter but I kinda forgot about it.

 **Omake 3  
** What's in a Name  
After V1C5

"Hey, Shirou, do you have a moment?" Ruby Rose asked one day as everyone was on their way to lunch.

"Sure. What do you need?"

"Well, I was just thinking about everyone's weapons and I realized that you never told me the name of yours."

"That's because it doesn't have one."

Ruby looked at Shirou like he had just spouted off one of Nora's insane theories. "What do you mean it doesn't have a name?"

"It just doesn't have one."

"You mean you didn't name it when you were designing it?"

"I didn't design it. It was a gift given to me and its design was based on my abilities."

"Well, did the person who made it give it a name?"

"If they did, they didn't tell me. I honestly couldn't even tell you who made it."

"How could your weapon not have a name?"

"I honestly don't see why this is such a big deal."

To that, Ruby actually scoffed and looked taken aback. "It's the biggest deal! Your weapon reflects who you are! Its name is just as important as your own!"

Ruby's words brought Noble Phantasms to Shirou's mind and how they were an integral part to the identity of a Heroic Spirit. "Maybe," Shirou allowed, "but I still don't see a point in it for me. Crescent Rose being named as it is may be important to you but my bow-sword being nameless suits me just fine."

Ruby looked deeply concerned as she chewed on her bottom lip but continued on before Shirou could say anything else. "Well, what about your Soul Surge? You have a name for that, right? Mine's called Fairy Law."

It was clear that Ruby was almost desperately searching for something but Shirou had no idea what so he plowed onward. "I honestly haven't given that whole concept much thought since I learned about it. I certainly don't have a name for it."

Ruby stared into Shirou's eyes for a long moment, clearly deeply concerned. Feeling uncomfortable, Shirou was about to speak up when Ruby once again beat him to it. "Well, we should go eat. Thanks for telling me, Shirou."

"It's no problem."


	7. V1C7: Painful Confessions

Jaune and Shirou stood facing each other in full battle gear, weapons at the ready. It had been three weeks since the start of the school year and for today's class, Professor Goodwitch decided to have two students spar to demonstrate the proper procedure of an official duel. To facilitate this, the class was moved to the auditorium and the two boys had taken to the stage, a spotlight shining down dramatically on them.

Jaune stood in a very rough approximation of a defensive stance, only slightly better than when he started, while Shirou stood in the opening stance of kendo. Jaune was panting slightly, already fairly winded from the fight so far, while Shirou hadn't broken a sweat. This fight had been incredibly one-sided to the surprise of absolutely no one. Jaune's skill with the sword was practically non-existent while Shirou was one of the best fighters in the class. More than a few students wondered what Professor Goodwitch had been thinking when the combatants were picked and Shirou had to admit that he was among them.

Then they actually started fighting and Shirou had to quickly revise his estimate. He wasn't sure if Professor Goodwitch had some skill that clued her into this or what but he quickly discovered that his friend, for his almost total lack of combat ability, had either incredible defenses or absurdly large Aura reserves. Even when he started going full force with his attacks, any given hit barely made Jaune's Aura Gauge on the large screen at the back of the room budge. Because of that and the fact that Jaune was adapting to Shirou's kendo at a decent rate, this fight had gone on significantly longer than anyone expected. Even after fifteen solid minutes of fighting, Jaune's Aura was only down to about half and it needed to drop to about a quarter in order to end the duel.

Having fought defensively for most of the time, Shirou decided to go on the offensive for the sake of ending the match before the class ended. Moving from a kendo stance to a general kenjutsu one— not really based on any specific style but still drawing heavily from kendo, Shirou charged at his friend and executed a rapid series of blows. The first brushed aside his shield, the second his sword that had come up to counterattack, the third was a thrust to the middle of his collarbone, the fourth was a rising slash to his chin, the fifth was a falling slash to his face, the sixth was a rising diagonal slash to his right hip, and the last was a thrust to his solar plexus that forced the air out of his lungs and knocked him backward.

All of that delivered at full strength and a quick glance revealed that he had only shaved off another ten percent of Jaune's Aura.

Taking a deep breath, Shirou returned his focus to Jaune who was currently staggering to his feet and contemplated his options. "We have two options here," Shirou said, "Either we keep this up until you go into the red or you forfeit and save everyone some time."

"I can do that?" Jaune asked, completely dropping his guard in surprise.

"Yes, you may," Professor Goodwitch said from the sidelines, her expression as unreadable as always.

"Yeah, I'm gonna do that," Jaune said as he collapsed onto his back.

"Very well," Professor Goodwitch said as she used her Scroll to turn the lights back on. Shirou sheathed his sword before walking over to Jaune and helping him up. "As you just witnessed, Mr. Arc has surrendered. At this point, the match is decided. Alternatively, if the fight had continued and Mr. Arc's Aura dropped into the red, an official could call off the match since Mr. Arc would no longer be fit for battle in a tournament-style duel.

"It is always paramount that you be aware of your Aura reserves during a fight; be it a duel of any type or a battle against the forces of Grimm. Ideally, you would be able to sense your own Aura levels and be able to judge that way but, until that time comes, you may refer to the application provided for your Scrolls. This application will not only show your own Aura level, it will also show the levels of your teammates. You can set this to show anyone, up to six people aside from yourself, provided that their Scroll with this application is available to sync to yours but, for the sake of convenience, your teammates have already been registered.

"Knowing how much Aura you have left is an invaluable skill and being able to check the status of your teammates is even more so. Just remember that you need to take your attention off of your opponent to check your Scroll so please only do so if you're not in immediate danger.

"One last announcement before class ends: The Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start to arrive in Vale so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"

Just as Professor Goodwitch finished, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class. As the students started filing out, Pyrrha couldn't help but notice snickering coming from Team CRDL as they made fun of Jaune's performance. She had half a mind to turn on them then and there, hoping to shut them up before her leader heard them, but the sad smile on Jaune's face told her it was too late.

Jaune knew as well as anyone that Shirou was one of the best fighters in the class and that there was no shame in losing to him so why did he look so defeated?

OoOoOoO

While Shirou slowly ate his lunch, only half listening to the wild dream Nora was going on about that she insisted was real, he contemplated a certain blond male who was currently on the far end of the table scooting his food around his tray with his fork. While an undeniable breach of privacy, Shirou couldn't help but know virtually all of Jaune's thoughts and emotions thanks to Unlimited Blade Works and not acting on that knowledge was painful. It wasn't like Weiss' situation where there really wasn't anything overly helpful he could do with his knowledge. No, Jaune's problem was a lot easier to deal with but doing so in the most beneficial way while also not revealing his knowledge was proving far more difficult.

Jaune's problem was simply that he felt that his growth was inadequate. Even after three weeks, he was only marginally better than he was at the beginning of the school year. His academic scores were passing but that didn't mean much considering the fact that most classes included physical aspects which he almost invariably failed. The sparring session he just had with Shirou only exacerbated his problem. As a matter of fact, Shirou's continued existence seemed to exacerbate the problem which, in turn, was the big problem for Shirou. JNPR's leader was very grateful for the help of his teamless friend but all of that help just made him feel like a burden.

Shirou was snapped out of his thoughts when Pyrrha, having finally noticed her leader's emotional state, spoke up. "Jaune? Are you okay?"

Jaune turned to Pyrrha with a start, "Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?

"It's just that you seem a little… _not_ okay…" Ruby said. The other members of JNPR and RWBY, noticing the turn in the conversation, all shifted their focus to Jaune.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" Jaune's thumbs up and laugh were as fake anything any of them had ever seen. Noticing that no one was believing him, Jaune racked his brain in an attempt to find something to say when a commotion going on behind him drew his attention. Everyone looked to see Team CRDL standing around a Faunus girl with brown rabbit ears and mocking her for her race. Not for the first time, Shirou idly noted how a lot of people in his world would go crazy over the fact that there was a reality where girls with cute animal features existed.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha said, misattributing the source of her leader's woes.

Jaune jumped on the mistake. "Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah… He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!"

"He's a _bully_ ," Ruby said, spitting the last word like a particularly vile epithet.

Jaune scoffed, "Oh, please! Name _one_ time he's 'bullied' me."

"There's that time he made you drop your books in the hall," Blake said.

"And that time he made your shield get caught in the doorway," Yang added.

"And that time he shoved you into one of the rocket-propelled lockers and launched it," Ren continued. Shirou had to use all of his willpower to stop himself from facepalming as he was reminded that those things existed and that _he had one_.

"And that time he pulled down your pants on your way out of class," Weiss supplied.

"And that time he flipped your tray into your face," Ruby put forth.

"And that time—" Nora was stopped by Jaune slamming his hands on the table.

"OKAY! I GET IT! Cardin's a bully!"

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask," Pyrrha said. Jaune's expression was caught somewhere between hopeful and despondent when Nora suddenly stood up and announced her plan with a not-entirely-sane grin.

"Oooooh! We'll break his legs!"

"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to _me_ ; he's a jerk to everyone!"

As if on cue, the laughing of CRDL grew louder and were intermixed with cries of pain. No longer content with mocking her, Cardin had now taken to pulling rather violently at her ears.

Shirou was in action before his brain even fully registered what he had seen.

"Trace, on!" Grabbing Yang's fork from where it lay beside him, Shirou projected a spoon and butterknife to go with them before throwing all three in sequence with pinpoint accuracy. The tines of the fork, strengthened by prana and not being blocked by Aura, easily pierced Cardin's wrist, forcing him to let go. His scream of startled pain then died in his throat when the spoon collided with his jaw, the force of the projectile great enough to make him turn slightly. That left the base of his neck open to the butterknife that had been just a heartbeat behind, the projected cutlery striking true and rendering the stocky man unconscious.

Teams RWBY and JNPR, along with the Faunus girl and the remains of Team CRDL, stared in shock, trying to process just what happened. Ruby, Ren, and Pyrrha; being among the first to get their bearings again, started to turn to Shirou only for the redhead to leap from his seat and vault over them and the table. The familiar forms of Kanshou and Bakuya were brought to the forefront of his mind almost automatically as he zeroed in on the others and it was only the fact that explaining them would be too much of a pain and that severely maiming Team CRDL, while immensely satisfying, wouldn't win him any points that stopped him.

Even with those thoughts, when he felt a hand clamp down on his left shoulder, Shirou was halfway through projecting them when a voice; calm, flippant, and _incredibly_ dangerous, stopped him.

"Thanks for the assist but I've got this."

The voice came from a rather tall woman wearing a Beacon uniform. Even wearing the rather drab, if pristine, outfit, she somehow made it abundantly clear that she was a woman of high fashion and even higher standards. Not a single stand of her brown hair was out of place as she marched towards the table with strides that seemed purposefully planned to draw out every ounce of beauty and class that she possessed. This was clearly a person in possession of such charisma that she always drew attention to herself simply by existing and it was equally clear that she reveled in the spotlight.

"Velvet, honey, you okay?" she asked the stunned Faunus, her voice sweet and gentle. The newly identified Velvet nodded somewhat dumbly, looking at the other girl for a moment before turning her wide-eyed gaze back to Shirou.

"That's good," she said. Despite staying kind and gentle, her voice managed to carry such an underlying sense of danger as she changed addressees that even Shirou found himself flinching despite not being the target. "I see your glorious leader has already been dealt with but what about you three? What do you think I should do with you?"

"Let us go?" one of them squeaked out hopefully.

The girl hummed thoughtfully for a moment before ruthlessly squashing that hope, "I don't think so. The world is filthy enough as is and it really doesn't need more trash dirtying it up. I don't think anyone would mind if I take some out."

There was no weapon on her. There couldn't be since, outside of special circumstances, it was forbidden for students to carry their weapons around in the main school building (the classes that required weapons were always held in one of the outbuildings or even outside). There was no magecraft in play, that much Shirou was certain of. It wasn't even that she was adopting some sort of fighting stance. She was simply slowly raising her right hand but that action filled those who saw it and were capable of understanding such things with such an overwhelming sense of danger that she may as well have pulled out a rocket launcher.

The feeling instantly vanished when Velvet shot up and grabbed her teammate's arm. "It's okay, Coco! Really! I'm fine!"

Coco regarded Velvet for a moment before smiling normally and gracefully sitting at the table opposite of her. "You really must learn to stand up for yourself, Velvet," Coco said as she crossed her legs. She gave the frozen members of Team CRDL a flat look before waving them off. "Well? Go on. Shoo. Get out of my sight." Snapping back to life, the standing members of Team CRDL collected their fallen leader and left in a hurry. The entire cafeteria was dead silent for a long moment before quickly returning to normal.

"Hey, you!" Coco said as she gestured to Shirou. "Come here for a minute."

Shirou acquiesced immediately.

"Go on," Coco said to Velvet as Shirou sat down next to the charismatic girl.

"Th-thank you for stopping him," Velvet said, blushing for reasons Shirou couldn't determine.

"It's no problem," Shirou waved her off. "He's been bullying a friend of mine for a while anyway. I'm just sorry I didn't step in sooner. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, honest," Velvet said, a little touched by the concern. She gently rubbed at the base of the rabbit ear that had been pulled on as she continued, "Just a little sore, is all."

"I'm glad," Shirou said with a bright and relieved smile that made Velvet turn away lest he see the bright blush that enveloped her face.

Coco, however, noticed it. "So, what's your name, hero? You're one of the first years, right?"

"That's right," Shirou nodded. "My name's Emiya Shirou but please call me Shirou."

"I'm Coco Adel and this is Velvet Scarlatina. We're a part of Team CFVY (Coffee) and Velvet here just so happens to by my partner so thanks for giving her a hand."

"Again, it was no problem. As for me, I'm unaffiliated; no partner or team."

"So that means you've got no plans for next Friday, right?"

For some reason, Shirou sensed danger but he couldn't tell why. "No, nothing in particular. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that Velvet and I were going to go out for a little fun in Vale and, as thanks, I want to extend an invitation to you."

"Oh, no, I couldn't intrude. It was nothing, really. Certainly nothing I need to be rewarded for."

"Nonsense!" Coco said with a smile. Her smile grew a little more when she saw Velvet stare at her in disbelief. "You won't be intruding if I invite you and one good turn deserves another. You saved my partner so now we owe you a debt and I believe in discharging my debts."

Shirou sighed. That force of personality that didn't accept anything that wasn't what they wanted reminded him of Tohsaka Rin and thus he assumed that, like Tohsaka, trying to argue with Coco would be pointless. "Alright. I guess I can I come."

"Excellent! Meet us at the dock next Friday at 4 PM. Got it?"

"Understood. Well, I should get back to my lunch before the bell rings. It was a pleasure meeting you both."

"Likewise," Velvet said as she waved at Shirou's retreating form.

"What the hell, Shirou?" Yang said when the redhead returned to his seat.

"Harassment is one thing; assault is another," Shirou said as he resumed eating. He noticed that Blake was staring rather intently at him but chose to ignore her for the time being.

"I'm not saying what you did was wrong, it's just— Wow. I don't think Cardin's going to be messing with anyone for a while."

"Actually, that might not be the case," Blake said, her gaze still firmly on Shirou.

"What makes you say that?" Ruby asked.

"Generally speaking, bullies are what they are because they want something; power, control, and fearful respect being the most common things. Shirou's actions could either shatter his delusions and make him reconsider or he'll become even worse in an attempt to compensate."

"She's right, sadly," Shirou said with a scowl as he recalled a certain blue-haired monster. "I'm familiar with his type. If we're lucky, that'll be the end of that but my luck's pretty fickle so I highly doubt it."

"Either way," Blake said, "that was a good thing you did. You don't see many people stand up for the Faunus like that."

Shirou shrugged as he took a sip of his tea, "Honestly, I didn't even think of that at the time. I saw someone being assaulted and so I acted. Velvet's race didn't even cross my mind."

Blake stared at Shirou for a moment more, the look in her eyes mixture of cautious calculation and something else he couldn't identify. Then she turned back to her book and Shirou returned to his food.

"Well, don't worry about it, Jaune. Even if Cardin becomes worse, we'll stop him before he gets too out of hand," Pyrrha said, turning her attention to where Jaune sat only to find him no longer there.

OoOoOoO

Later that day, everyone found themselves in the classroom of Professor Bartholomew Oobleck. Despite being a professor and holding a doctorate, the man was an absolute mess. His uniform was wrinkled, ruffled, and barely on correctly; his dark green hair was completely untamed and blown back; his round, opaque glasses were a size too large and constantly sliding down his nose; and he drank so much coffee that no one was entirely sure if he had super speed as his Semblance or if the constant influx of caffeine allowed him to zip around at impossible speeds. Despite all that, he was also undeniably the smartest person at Beacon with the possible exception of Professor Ozpin.

Today's lesson: The history of the Faunus Rights Revolution.

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution— more popularly known as the Faunus War— Humankind was quite, quite _adamant_ about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie," Professor Oobleck zipped over to the large map of Remnant on the back wall and pointed to Menagerie using a wooden pointer before zipping to his desk for another drink of coffee. Shirou idly wondered if his thermos contained a folded space that held an infinite supply of the stuff. "Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively _recent_ events! Why, repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day! Now! The chances are decent that many of the Faunus in this class— and, indeed, this very school— have been subjugated or discriminated because of their heritage! Let it be known that this school will not, under any circumstances, tolerate such behavior! It is because of the ignorance and fear of us Humans that the White Fang even exist in the first place, let alone that they went from a peaceful Faunus Rights Group to politically motivated terrorists!

"Now! Moving along! Which one of you young scholars can tell me what many state to be the turning point of the third year of the war? Yes, Miss Schnee?"

"The battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss said proudly.

"Precisely! _And_ who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Cardin, who had long since recovered, chose that moment to flick a paper football at a dozing Jaune so Shirou chose that moment to intercept it with a projected needle, disguising the throwing motion as raising his hand.

"Yes, Mister Emiya?"

"The Faunus, especially those of certain subraces, have nearly perfect night vision. When General Lagune attempted to ambush a Faunus encampment in their sleep, his larger army was quickly outmatched. His lack of knowledge regarding Faunus traits, along with a few other factors, led to his army being routed and him quickly being captured."

"Excellent! That is precisely the answer I was looking for! Now! Moving on!" The professor appeared in front of Jaune's desk and slammed it with his pointer. Jaune practically jumped out of his skin as the loud sound startled him fully awake. "Glad to have you join us, Mister Arc," Professor Oobleck said tersely. "Speak with me after class!" Cardin started laughing hysterically at this only to jump when Oobleck addressed him, too. "And you as well, Mister Winchester!"

After the class ended, Team JNPR sans their leader slowly filed out only for Pyrrha to stop just outside the door. "You go on ahead," she said to her teammates. "I'll wait for Jaune." Nora and Ren looked at each other before looking into the classroom where Jaune and Cardin stood before Professor Oobleck and then back to Pyrrha who was looking at them with a slightly anxious smile. Sensing something private was up, the duo nodded before heading on their way.

"You two have been struggling in my class since day one!" Professor Oobleck said to Jaune and Cardin as he took another sip from his thermos. "Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest or just your stubborn nature but whatever it is, it stops now! You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school and we only accept the best of the best _so_ I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it… you're destined to repeat it. Pages fifty-one to ninety-one! I want an essay on my desk by the next class! Now! Run along!"

His piece said, Professor Oobleck was gone in a flash, little more than a green and white blur as he passed a waiting Pyrrha. Jaune came out a few moments later but fell to the ground when Cardin cuffed him hard on the shoulder.

As the bully laughed and walked away, Pyrrha had to restrain herself from dismantling him as she helped her leader up. "You know, I really will break his legs." Jaune sighed at the declaration which only confused Pyrrha. She searched what she could see of his face for a long moment, trying to piece together what was bothering him, when she was suddenly struck by inspiration. "I have an idea! Here, come with me!" Without waiting for an acknowledgment, Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's arm and drug him along.

After a few minutes of walking and a quick bathroom break, Pyrrha led Jaune to the rooftop of their dorm building. This particular rooftop was actually the roof of the third floor of the dorms, which happened to be the floor the first years were on, with the rooftop of the fourth and final floor being inaccessible. The sun was just now starting to set and the breeze was a little chilly but the view of Beacon's central tower was fantastic.

"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now but I'm not _that_ depressed," a dejected Jaune said as he peered over the edge of the roof. Pyrrha stared at Jaune in confusion for a moment before the meaning of his words hit her like a road roller.

"N-n-no!" Pyrrha dashed over to Jaune and pushed him away from the edge. "That's not why I brought you up here! Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class and that you're still not the strongest of fighters so… I want to help you!"

"Wh-what?"

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!"

"You think I need help?" Jaune asked, his voice a combination of hurt and resignation.

"N-no! That's not what I meant!"

"But you just said it."

"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"

Jaune turned away from Pyrrha's earnest face and lowered his head. When he spoke, his voice was full of a deep loathing, "You're wrong. I-I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say! Of course you do!" Pyrrha insisted, trying to step around to look her leader in the face.

Jaune rendered her efforts pointless by spinning around and exploding in anger, "No, I don't!" Jaune sighed at the look of bewilderment with a hint of hurt on Pyrrha's face. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon," he said as he turned away once again, completely ashamed and not wishing to see her reaction.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

Jaune was starting to break down. As he talked, his words became faster and his voice became higher. He didn't want to speak but the weight of the lies he had been carrying since the beginning forced the words out of him. He wanted things to stay the same but the very nature of the person standing behind him made that an impossibility.

"I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests, I didn't _earn_ my spot at this academy! I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts and I lied!"

Pyrrha was beyond confused. It wasn't so much that she was confused, it was simply that her mind refused to accept his words. The Jaune that she had come to know over the past three weeks was a kind, honest, straightforward man. He was lacking in a few areas, sure, but he made up for those weaknesses by being strong in so many others. What he lacked could easily be gained with time and effort and what he had couldn't be gained no matter how hard others tried. She had a million questions on her mind right now but there was only one that she managed to voice.

"But… why?"

"'Cause _this_ is always what I've wanted to be! My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."

Finally managing to get her body to listen, Pyrrha carefully stepped forward and placed her hand on her leader's shoulder. "Then let me help you!"

At her touch, Jaune stiffened. At her words, he spun around sharply, knocking her hand away, and exploded once more. "I don't _want_ help! I don't _want_ to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

"Jaune, I—"

"I'm _tired_ of being the lovable idiot stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! I'm tired of dragging everyone else down because they decided to take pity on me and help me out! Don't you understand? If you help me out, I'll get better, sure, but I'll only be dragging you down. Coming here was a mistake. If I hadn't gotten these grand delusions in my head, Shirou would have been your partner and the two of you would be unstoppable. You could be so much more without me weighing you down."

Once again, Jaune's words had rattled Pyrrha's brain but she was speaking and acting before she even had time to so much as think.

"That's where you're wrong, Jaune," Pyrrha said as she reached out and gently laid her hand on her leader's arm. "You're not dragging me down and helping you isn't a burden to me. You don't understand what your friendship means to me; what effect you coming to me for help two weeks ago had on me. I chose you as my partner, Jaune. I knew I wanted to be on your team from the moment I saw you at the initiation speech. I saw in you something that I knew I needed."

"What was it?" Jaune asked, his brain struggling to keep up.

"You had you." Jaune's face started to flush so Pyrrha pressed on. "My life hasn't been easy. Sure, all of the fame and money is pretty nice and I didn't really mind the almost constant training but I had been singled out as special from an early age. For almost as long as I can remember, I was told that I was better than everyone else, that I had what it took to be one of the greatest Huntresses of all time, that I was an unprecedented genius capable of anything and everything. But there was one thing I had never been able to do no matter how hard I tried: Make friends.

"Precisely because I was so talented and had all of this extra training, everyone placed me on a pedestal. They always looked up to me in awe but they never tried to get close. Never tried to actually _know_ me rather than simply knowing _about_ me. But you were different. You didn't even really know about me and, even when you _did_ learn, nothing really changed. I know you look up to me but you don't treat me like an idol. You treat me like a person. You're my friend, Jaune. My first and greatest friend. Just by being you, you're giving me something I've always wanted and, for that reason, I'll gladly help you any way I can. You'll never be a burden to me, Jaune. Because of you, I can be so much better than I ever was before. _We_ can be so much better."

Jaune stared at Pyrrha, completely dumbstruck and lost in awe. The words he was hearing were so far beyond his comprehension that she might as well have been speaking an alien language and yet their meaning struck his heart nonetheless. He thought back to his talk with Shirou before he had gone to Pyrrha and the other boy's words were resounding even truer now than they had been before.

Then she said the words that finally broke him utterly. "You belong here, Jaune. With Team JNPR. With Team RWBY. With Shirou. With me."

Acting almost without thought, Jaune quickly pulled Pyrrha into a tight embrace, clinging to her like a drowning man would a life preserver as his entire body was wracked with sobs. Pyrrha froze for half a heartbeat but her arms quickly wound their way around her leader's back, holding him almost as tightly. By the time the two finally parted, the sun had fully set and it was agreed that they would start training tomorrow after class.

As Jaune and Pyrrha left the rooftop, Cardin Winchester, sitting by the window in his room that was right below them, reflected on this information and decided what to do next.

* * *

A/N: As always, thank you all ever so much for all of the wonderful reviews! The opening of this chapter was kinda tricky to write. I ended going through three or four different versions before settling on this one. Anyway, not much else to say so here's the final omake of this volume:

 **Omake 4  
** The Way to the Heart  
Before V1C7

"Oh! Ren! Good morning. What are you doing up so early?" Shirou asked as he entered the third-floor kitchen to start breakfast.

"There's something I wanted to ask you. A favor, actually," Ren answered, his body language unusually nervous.

"Anything."

"Do you think… you could… teach me how to cook?" Ren asked, only meeting Shirou's eyes with brief glances.

Shirou was torn between being amused and concerned. Ren was usually so calm and controlled, very rarely showing any emotion outside of amused exasperation at Nora's antics. To see him not only nervous but also blatantly showing it was more than a little odd, to say the least."Sure. What made you interested to learn, if you don't mind my asking."

"Oh, it's… nothing really. I've always been a bit of a decent cook but recently I just… This is honestly rather embarrassing."

"You don't have to tell me."

"No, if I'm going to be inconveniencing you then you deserve to know why. You see, Nora and I have known each other since we were children and we've had only each other to rely on for most of our lives. I used to do all of the cooking, especially breakfast, and she always loved it but since you started cooking, well… She's said that your cooking is the best she's ever had and I just wanted to improve my own cooking skills so that she can enjoy my cooking again."

With his explanation finished, Ren and Shirou stood silently for a moment before the most surprising thing happened:

Shirou laughed.

It wasn't a small chuckle like he had done before but a genuine, full laugh. Ren felt like he should have been insulted but the simple fact that, to his knowledge, Shirou had never laughed before in the time that he's known him despite having heard his team and Team RWBY laugh numerous times gave him pause.

When Shirou's laughter finally calmed down, he smiled brightly at Ren. "Sorry about that. Your situation just brought back some memories. I'm more than happy to help you."

"Thanks, Shirou," Ren said as he stepped up to the counter as Shirou started pulling out ingredients and utensils.

"It's no problem, Ren."


	8. V1C8: A Strength of Will

Shirou steadied his breathing as he aimed down the shaft of the drawn arrow, his target in his sights. Even as a bead of sweat trailed down his forehead and threatened to get in his eye, he remained singularly focused, every muscle in his body taught, waiting for the signal to begin.

Seconds stretched into eternity before a green light and high pitched beep went off. The instant the stimulus was registered, Shirou let the arrow fly and dashed towards his next target, already knocking another arrow. One by one, he let them fly; never pausing for more than a fraction of an instant. He needed to push all of his advantages that he could since he knew that his opponent had him greatly outclassed in not only movement speed but firing speed as well. The only real advantage that he possessed was that, thanks to his countless years of practice and his choice of weapon, he didn't have to stop to aim or check to make sure the target had been hit.

When the final target was struck and the clock was stopped, Shirou saw that he had completed the course in 5.37 seconds. When the second timer stopped, he saw that Ruby Rose had finished hers in 7.19 seconds. Striking five targets dead center from fifty meters away in that time was no mean feat. Ruby shooting five with the same accuracy from two hundred meters away in that time was, likewise, impressive.

Not that you would know that from the way Ruby was currently skulking.

"Aw, jeez," Ruby said with a huff as she let Crescent Rose in its gun form hang from one hand, "I can't believe I lost." Ruby had approached Shirou the other day to challenge him to a bit of an accuracy contest; her sniper rifle against his bow. It had taken a bit of debate and some mediation from Team JNPR for a proper contest to be decided but it had eventually been settled and so both teams and Shirou had taken to Beacon's outdoor shooting range the first free period they had.

Sitting on the benches on the back wall, Teams RWBY and JNPR sans their leaders had watched the proceedings with rapt attention, using the camera apps on their Scrolls to monitor the condition of the targets. When Shirou came out ahead, a mixture of cheers and groans resonated from them as Yang and Ren paid up to Blake and Nora.

"Don't worry about it," Shirou said, ignoring what he was certain was the illegal gambling going on behind him. "I've practiced with the bow for almost as long as I can remember. I was even Captain of the Archery Club back in my old school. Honestly, I have to be this good in order to get by with such an outdated weapon. Once you learn to move and shoot at the same time, I'm certain you'll surpass me."

Ruby smiled somewhat shyly at him but, if she was going to say anything, she was stopped by an approaching voice. "Hey, Shirou," Yang said as she walked up to them, "How far can you shoot that thing?"

"Accurately or leathally?"

"Accurately."

"I don't really know. I've never tested my limits."

"How about you try and hit one of Ruby's targets? The center's kinda gone but you can just aim to the left of it, right?"

"I'll give it a shot," Shirou said before walking over to Ruby's side of the shooting range. At this distance, the targets were little more than specks and would absolutely be out of the range of nearly every archer. Thankfully, Shirou _wasn't_ nearly every archer and had a few tricks up his sleeve to make the impossible possible.

For starters, Shirou hopped over the barrier before leaping onto the roof of the building. The difference in elevation wouldn't make that much of a difference at this distance but every little bit helped. The second was taking advantage of one of the differences between Aura and Strengthening: Aura could only strengthen the body as a whole and held items while magecraft could be used to strengthen basically anything. As such, Shirou carefully fed prana into his eyes and narrowed them until he could easily make out every detail of the target as if he were standing right next to it. The third was his bow. While Archer's black bow, which this one had been modeled off of, could have made this shot with no difficulties thanks to its futuristic (even for Remnant) material composition, the one he had could not. So Shirou fed prana into his weapon and made very subtle alterations to it; not enough to change its physical appearance or get in the way of the transformation mechanism but enough to increase its range by a fair amount.

Thus prepared, Shirou knocked an arrow and took aim at a precise point above and slightly to the side of his target. He held his aim for a heartbeat before letting it fly. Without bothering to wait to see if the arrow struck, Shirou jumped down and reentered the building.

"You're not going to see if you hit?" Weiss asked.

"I don't need to. I knew I hit it before I released the arrow." Weiss and the others looked incredulously at Shirou for a moment before pulling out their Scrolls and checking the target; Ruby looking through the scope of Crescent Rose. Just as he had said, the arrow had struck in the horizontal center and was so close to the hole that Ruby's shot had made that it looked like it should have gone through it.

Everyone stared gobsmacked at Shirou who just brushed it off. "It's good to know I can make that shot but, unless I used a Dust arrow or the target has no defenses, it wouldn't do much."

"Still, that was a very impressive shot. I didn't think bows were even capable of shooting out that far," Ren said

"Are you gonna go for a long shot, Ruby?" Nora asked.

"I would but the range only goes out to about three hundred yards and my record is one thousand three hundred seventy-two so…."

Yang let out a low whistle, "Wow, sis. I didn't know you upped your record." Ruby smiled and chuckled sheepishly as she shuffled her feet.

"Well, it's about lunchtime now," Shirou began, "so why don't we eat? I made enough food so everyone could have some."

"So that's what was in that large bag," Blake muttered as she eyed the large parcel on the bench that Shirou had brought with him.

Nora cheered, "Breakfast _and_ lunch from Shirou today! This is the best. Day. _Ever!_ " Then she was off in a pink cloud of dust, digging through the bag to see what was on the menu today. Shirou quickly hurried after her to make sure everything got set out properly and not thrown about the place. Not that he had to worry, of course. Not even Nora would destroy something sacred.

"So we finally get to have a meal prepared by Shirou, huh? I'll admit I've been curious given how you guys go on about it," Yang said to Pyrrha and Ren.

"You're certainly in for a treat," Ren said with a chuckle. "It's a shame Jaune had to miss out. Where is he, anyway?"

"I'm sure our leader is _perfectly_ fine," Pyrrha said a little tersely as she glared off to the side. Now that Ren thought about it, Pyrrha had pulled a crazy one eighty over the past couple of days. She came to the room one night with Jaune and was practically glowing, a glow which had carried through much of the next day, but then something had happened around lunch that turned her from a ray of sunshine to an angry stormcloud. It was clear that Jaune was involved in this somehow but what could he possibly have done?

OoOoOoO

Three days prior to Ruby and Shirou's competition, Jaune found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Specifically, a particularly predatory Cardin and a wall coming out of the men's restroom.

"So, Jauney boy, I heard the most amazing thing last night!" Cardin said, his tone and body language full of so much superiority, glee, and borderline malice that it was practically dripping from him.

"O-oh, r-really?" Jaune asked, damning his stutter even as he tried to find an opening to flee. Sadly, the only one that presented itself led back into the bathroom and he doubted he could escape that way without doing something that required far more agility than he currently possessed.

"Yeah. I heard that a certain someone had forged his application papers and lied his way into Beacon. Can you believe that?"

"That's— Naw, that's just— You've gotta be— I mean that— There's no way that's true! I mean, someone lie their way into Beacon? Who would be dumb enough to try that?" Jaune said as he suddenly found himself sweating and breathing hard.

"Well, as it so happens, that certain someone would be you," Cardin said with a wolfish grin. "I heard it straight from your mouth. Bet ya didn't know my dorm's right below there, did ya?"

Jaune's skin went pale in an instant and he swore that his heart stopped beating for a second. "Please, Cardin, _please_ don't tell anyone!"

"Jaune, come on! I'd never rat on a friend like that!" Cardin said as he backed away from the blond.

"A… a friend?" Jaune said cautiously. He didn't like where this was going at all.

"Of course!" Cardin quickled approached Jaune once more and trapped him in a headlock. It was only thanks to his training with Shirou and Pyrrha that Jaune managed to get his Aura up in time to stop from being choked. "We're _friends_ now, Jauney boy! And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a _long_ time." Cardin let go of Jaune's head and the blond straitened up, softly massaging his throat while looking hard at Cardin. "That being said, I really don't have time to do those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us yesterday. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?" Jaune said nothing as he almost glared at Cardin. For his part, Cardin's wolfish grin simply intensified. "That's what I thought. Don't worry, Jaune. Your secret's safe with me."

Unsurprisingly, Jaune's good mood soured instantly and the rest of his day hadn't been pleasant. Doing the same work twice wouldn't _too_ difficult but making sure the language was different enough to not get flagged as copying was going to be a real pain. He was sorely tempted to just write his, print it off twice, and let Cardin get in trouble for blatant copying— Jaune was reasonably certain he could set things up to make it believable that Cardin had simply stolen his paper for a while and he could probably get his team and maybe even Team RWBY and Shirou to corroborate it— but doing that would almost certainly make Cardin reveal his secret on the spot.

Also unsurprisingly, Pyrrha noticed her leader's dour mood instantly. At first, she just asked the usual, generic questions which Jaune brushed off with equally generic answers but it was clear that she was going to have none of that after their talk the previous night. As such, she had pulled him aside at the beginning of lunch and pressed him until he revealed his encounter with Cardin.

"Where is he? I'm going to break his legs," Pyrrha said as soon as Jaune finished, her killing intent so think in the air that Jaune swore the temperature dropped a whole ten degrees.

"Pyrrha, don't," Jaune said, his voice weak. "That won't solve anything."

"You can't just do nothing, Jaune! He'll just keep piling demands on you until you break!"

"I know that but I don't really have a choice here. I just… need to tough it out until I can figure out what to do."

"Then at least let me help you! I can write Cardin's report."

"No," Jaune said, his tone making it apparent that he would brook no argument. "I know you wouldn't mind but I would. This is my problem, my mistake, and it's something I need to fix on my own. I'm open to suggestions but that's it. If Cardin exposes me, you can claim that you knew nothing about it."

Pyrrha searched Jaune's eyes for a long moment, trying to find what, Jaune was certain. After a long while, she heaved a deep sigh and said, "I wouldn't do that, you know. If someone asked, I'd tell the truth no matter the consequences to myself."

Jaune smiled wanly at his partner, "I know you would." Pyrrha returned the smile, just as weak. After another moment, Jaune spoke up again. "You go on ahead. I'm not that hungry and I've got a lot of work to do."

OoOoOoO

Jaune groaned as he walked through Forever Fall forest, lugging a case of six large, empty glass jars with him. True to its name, the trees and grass of the forest were a pleasant mixture of reds, browns, and yellows year round and the forest seemed to go on for forever. Lying on the northern side of the Kingdom of Vale, the forest took up nearly a quarter of the total area under Vale's jurisdiction. Thanks to its size, geography, and relative remoteness; it was a veritable paradise for all kinds of creatures and people both good and bad.

On this particular Friday afternoon, the first years of Beacon found themselves here on a field trip for their herbology class (many students had complained about its existence until Professor Peach, who taught it, demonstrated in a highly dangerous and probably more than little illegal way the importance of the field of study). Despite this, it was Professor Goodwitch, who taught dueling, that was leading them.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is, indeed, beautiful but we are not here to sightsee," Professor Goodwitch said as she walked onwards, trusting the students to keep up. "Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." The group came to a stop, Jaune nearly bumping into Cardin in the process, and Professor Goodwitch turned to face her students, a glass jar full of a red sap in her hand. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap to be used for a future experiment. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm so be sure to stay with your teammates and keep your weapons ready. We will rendezvous back here by four o'clock. Have fun!"

Finally dismissed, the students began to split into team-sized groups and go about their assigned task. Jaune, for his part, attempted to sneak away from Team CRDL and join his team but Cardin had easily noticed his noisy attempt.

"Come on, buddy. Let's go!" Cardin said as he grabbed Jaune by his hood. Jaune stared at his team and saw Ren and Nora walk off into the forest, blissfully unaware of their leader's troubles. His eyes caught Pyrrha's for a moment and lingered there, wishing for nothing more than to break free of Cardin's grasp and join her, but he broke the held look and resigned himself to his fate.

Pyrrha sighed deeply as Jaune turned away before leveling a fierce glare at Cardin's back. If the bully had even an ounce of combat prowess, the naked killing intent would have sent him running for the hills but he just continued on, blissfully unaware of the fact the had come a hair's breadth from experiencing a world of pain the likes of which few knew more times in the last few days than Pyrrha cared to count. After a long moment, Pyrrha steeled herself and turned to go join Ren and Nora. For the time being, even though she didn't like it, she'd just have to continue to trust Jaune.

Off to one side, unseen by the others, Emiya Shirou scowled at the retreating forms of Cardin and Jaune as he continued to devise a plan.

OoOoOoO

It had only been seven days since that disastrous encounter with Cardin but, to Jaune, it felt like seven months of hell. Just as Pyrrha predicted, the demands had grown in number and effort required until Jaune barely had enough time to take care of the things he needed to do. The one last night had been the worst by far. He had been ordered to go out and gather a box of Rapier Wasps for some undoubtedly fiendish reason. That had been a serious escapade but he was actually proud by the fact that he had done it.

It wasn't all bad, though. Shirou had decided to change up his breakfast menu a bit and started making foods that were particularly healthy and bolstered one's immune system while promoting good energy. How he managed to make something that was impossibly healthy while still being impossibly delicious was perhaps the greatest mystery of all time to Jaune but he wasn't about to complain. Aside from that, there had also been his nightly sessions with Pyrrha which he placed the highest priority on; ensuring that Cardin didn't bother him by making sure to "accidentally" drop his Scroll off of the (different) rooftop before each one. It had mostly been a lot of theory and stances with a couple of forms thrown in since Pyrrha knew Jaune would be too tired for anything else but he still felt like he was making some serious progress for the first time since coming to Beacon.

To make matters worse, the rest of Team CRDL was every bit as bad as their leader. While Jaune honestly believed that Cardin had kept his word and hadn't told a soul about the forged transcripts— the other members never made requests "directly" to Jaune and Cardin never even hinted at the reason for the arrangement when they were around; they had no objections to using Jaune for just about everything they could. Of course, even that had a bright side since Jaune was now intimately familiar with all of their classes and often got top marks for anything purely academic.

At that moment, however, Jaune couldn't think of any of the silver linings as he finished lugging the six jars of red sap to Team CRDL who were lounging about like they owned the place. He just barely managed to safely set the case down before collapsing.

"Hey, great work, Jauney boy!" Cardin said as he and the rest of his team got up. "Now that wasn't too hard, was it?"

Jaune struggled to get into a sitting position but found that his head was swimming. "I think I'm allergic to this stuff…."

"Greeeeat, great great. So, _Jaune_ , I bet you're asking yourself 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect _six_ jars of tree sap when there's only _five_ of us?'"

Jaune nodded as he gingerly sat up, "That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."

"Well, come with me and you'll find out," Cardin said, that all-too-familiar wolfish grin returning. Jaune could only groan as he wondered what fresh hell awaited him now.

OoOoOoO

As it turned out, this fresh hell started with spying on Shirou who was currently a bit away from the rest of Team JNPR and putting the finishing touches on his jar of red sap.

"Cardin, wh-what's going on?" Jaune asked, confused, as they watched the redhead from just behind the crest of a hill.

"Payback," Cardin said wickedly, his hateful gaze locked on Shirou.

"Shirou?" Jaune said as his eyes widened in realization. "Wh-what are you—?"

Cardin interrupted Jaune by pounding his fist on the ground. "That's the guy. He's the asshole who nearly cut my hand off and knocked me out. Alright, boys…" Cardin pulled a very familiar cardboard box out from somewhere, a very noticeable buzzing coming from it. "Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps and now we're gonna put him to work."

Russel roughly grabbed Jaune's shoulder, the other boy laughing nervously as he pieced together just where this was going.

"Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me, these nasty things _loooove_ sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach _him_ a thing or two," Cardin said before quickly rising to his feet, the rest of his team right behind him. Jaune was a bit slow getting up, still a little weak from his earlier exertions, so Cardin painfully yanked him up by his arm before shoving a jar of red sap into his hands. "And _you're_ going to do it."

"Do what?" Jaune asked, hoping to buy enough time feigning ignorance for Shirou to move.

"Hit him with the sap!" Cardin leaned in close to Jaune's face and spoke in a low whisper so only he could hear, "Either that or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."

Jaune looked down at the jar in his hands and then to Team CRDL before looking towards Shirou who seemed to be having some trouble with the lid. He recalled all of the help the other boy had been and his choice was clear. "No," he said firmly.

"What did you say?"

Jaune gripped the jar tightly as all of the indignities he had been put through because of Cardin came rushing back to him. "I said… _No!"_ With that final declaration, Jaune spun on his heel back towards Cardin and hurdled the jar at him with all of his might. Caught completely surprised, Cardin didn't even have time to get his Aura up and would have been hurt a fair bit if it wasn't for his breastplate. As it was, the jar shattered harmlessly against it, coating it in the sticky red sap.

Jaune took a half step back, suddenly realizing that he might have made a big mistake now that his anger was fading. Cardin, meanwhile, looked down at himself before laughing darkly. "Oh, you've done it now…"

Jaune laughed humorlessly as Dove and Sky seized him by his shoulders before throwing him to the ground. Jaune groaned in discomfort as he looked up and saw Cardin looming over him, a dark grin on his face. Cardin picked Jaune up by the front of his hoodie before punching him with a right hook and sending him back to the ground.

"You _know_ that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy," Cardin said as he picked Jaune up again, a rather angry bruise forming on his jaw. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny tiny _pieces_."

Jaune's head lolled back as he was picked, the adrenaline that was now coursing through his system washing away his earlier fatigue and the pain from the blows. "I don't care what you do to me," he said slowly as he brought his head down to level a surprisingly furious glare at Cardin, "but you are _not_ messing with my friends."

Cardin stared at Jaune for a moment, utterly gobsmacked. "What? You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big, strong man now?"

Jaune simply smiled as he put his Aura up.

Cardin roared in blind anger and lashed out with another right cross only to find his fist to stop a few inches above Jaune's skin, a bright, white flash coinciding with the blow temporarily blinding him and the rest of his team. Cardin screamed out in pain, holding his hand and wondering why it felt like he just punched a brick wall, as Jaune, who had been knocked back onto the ground, looked at his faintly glowing hands in confusion, noticing that all of his aches and pains were completely gone now.

Distracted and surprised as he was, Jaune had dropped his Aura and didn't put it back up again before Sky Lark came up and kicked him in the back, making him fall onto his stomach. Brought back into the present, Jaune glared up at the approaching Cardin who had murder in his eyes.

"Let's see how much of a man you _really_ are," Cardin said menacingly. Everyone suddenly stopped as a low growl was heard. Team CRDL slowly turned around just in time to see a very large Ursa Major burst through the trees. It leapt forward and landed with a ground shaking "Thud" in front of the students, sniffing Cardin's breastplate before unleashing a massive roar at Cardin.

"That's a big Ursa!" Russel said as he and the rest of his team sans Cardin fled.

Cardin would have been more than happy to join the rest of his team in running away but had the unfortunate problem of being completely paralyzed with fear. As such, he just barely managed to get his Aura up before the Ursa swung at him with one of its massive paws and launched him sideways. The Ursa sniffed at the cowering Jaune for a moment before giving chase to its sweet-smelling prey. It towered over the boy who finally realized that drawing his weapon might be a good idea only to have said weapon subsequently knocked from his hand.

Jaune looked between Cardin's mace and the boy himself a few times as his mind raced. It didn't take long for him to reach his conclusion, his eyes hardening with resolve.

OoOoOoO

Shirou finally stopped messing around and put the lid on his jar properly. He had noticed the presence of Team CRDL and Jaune almost the instant they started spying on him— even if he couldn't smell the faint scent of lemon he associated with Jaune's power, Cardin's killing intent was as naked as it was weak— and used his magecraft to reinforce his hearing so he could hear what was going on. When Jaune finally drew the line at attacking a friend, Shirou had released the spell and stopped eavesdropping. He knew that it likely wouldn't end up well for his blond friend but this wasn't something he could really intervene with. Thanks to his Tracing, he knew that Pyrrha knew about everything that was going on and that Jaune had specifically asked her to stay out of it so he decided to also apply that request to himself. He could very easily intervene now without suspicion since Jaune was very aware that he could tell whenever someone was near but decided against it.

As he was passing by, Shirou exchanged a look with Pyrrha who was also loitering despite her task having been complete for some time. Shirou could tell from that look that she was also aware of their presence on the nearby hill, she knew that he knew, and that she was debating breaking her promise and running up there to unleash fully articulated hell on Team CRDL. The decision was taken away from her, however, when the roar of what could only be a rather large Ursa broke through the relative silence of the forest.

By the time the other students realized what they had heard, Shirou was already in motion, Pyrrha half a step ahead. The brushed passed the fleeing members of Team CRDL and rushed to where they knew Jaune was located. They arrived just in time to see Cardin futilely attempt to crawl away from a rather large Ursa. Despite their mutual disdain for the bully and blackmailer, their better halves kicked in and caused them to reach for their weapons only to pause when Jaune got between Cardin and the Ursa and blocked the Ursa's swipe with his shield.

Surprised but undeterred, Shirou drew his sword only to stop when Pyrrha held her hand out. "Wait!"

Shirou looked at Pyrrha like she had gone insane. He knew that she had been teaching Jaune how to fight properly but just throwing him into the fire like this seemed like a bad idea. Still, if she insisted… "Fine," he said tersley as he transformed his sword into a bow and readied an arrow, "but I'm intervening at the first sign of trouble."

"You won't have to," Pyrrha said with a smile. Shirou gave her a confused looked so she held up her hand, now infused with a dark red glow, and moved Shirou's bow, now also covered by the same glow, without actually touching it.

"I see," Shirou said as he put the pieces together. Magnetism was a very powerful Semblance, especially since it seemed to completely ignore the laws of physics that dictate how magnets work, if Pyrrha's insinuations were to be believed. Even so, he refused to put away his weapon which Pyrrha accepted with a nod before turning her full attention back to Jaune as Ruby and Weiss arrived, tuning them out as Shirou explained what was going on.

Jaune shoved the Ursa's claw to the side before slashing at its' stomach with his sword. Another claw smash from the Ursa provoked Jaune to parry the blow and slash the limb before backstepping to avoid the lunge it made with its mouth. Every single word Pyrrha had told him about combat was pouring through his head as he went over everything practiced and discussed. He had no idea if anyone heard the roar or if the rest of Team CRDL could get to the others in time so it was up to him to defend the defenseless Cardin.

The Ursa rushed at Jaune with a diagonal swipe and the blond was just a fraction of a second too slow in locking his stance. As a result, the slash blew through his guard and left him too off balance to respond to the follow up attack from the other claw. His Aura held firm under the assault but the force of the blow sent him practically flying away. He managed to get his feet underneath him as he tumbled and slid to a stop before charging the Ursa that had returned its attention to Cardin. Focused as it was on both the sweet scent of the sap and the even sweeter fear Cardin was radiating, it didn't notice Jaune's leaping slash until it was too late.

The Ursa Major's head fell on the ground between the terrified Cardin's legs before slowly disappearing. Jaune returned his shield to its sheath form and sheathed his sword before walking over ot Cardin and extends his hand.

Cardin smiled at the grim faced Jaune as he was helped up to his feet. "Holy crap, Jaune!"

If he was going to say anything further, he wouldn't get the chance as he was cut off by Jaune. "Don't _ever_ mess with my friends _ever_ again," Jaune said, his voice low and threatening as he stared Cardin dead in the eyes. "Got it?"

Cowed by Jaune's aura, Cardin could only nod his head dumbly before Jaune turned and walked away. Still hidden from sight, Pyrrha smiled at her leader and turned around herself as the others did the same.

Later that night, Jaune would tell Pyrrha that his arrangement was Cardin was taken care of, only saying that they had "come to an agreement" about it, and would throw himself fully into her training. Pyrrha, ever proud of her leader, could only secretly smile and vow to herself to do everything she could for him.

OoOoOoO

Shirou stood on one of Beacon's many balconies, lazily watching the final rays of light disappear behind the horizon. Many kilometers away, he could see the lights of the City of Vale grow in intensity as night slowly took over. Much closer, only a half dozen kilometers or so away, he could see the airship port at the edge of the great cliff that Beacon stood near. The port was open at all hours of the day but no ships could be seen going to or from it. From there, the rest of Beacon Academy's ground opened up to him and he sat in total stillness as he watched a few students move about, some hurried and others sedate.

One month. Shirou had now spent one month at Beacon Academy which meant he had been on Remnant for seven. Six numb months of near constant fighting against literal monsters and one of a style of life he thought he'd never return to. Life at Beacon was, by no means, similar to life attending Homurahara but the handful of similar things was more than enough to make it difficult for him. No matter how much he tried to run from it and forget about it, it seemed his old life would forever haunt him much as that fire had.

Despite his heavy thinking, Shirou had made sure to keep basic situational awareness so the fact that Blake managed to sneak up on him was surprising. "Oh. I didn't expect to find anyone here," she said as she stopped part way towards the railing.

Blake was an odd one to Shirou. She was, by far, the least talkative member of Team RWBY and rivaled Ren in terms of overall quietness but Shirou could feel an intensity about her unlike any he had ever really encountered before and could tell from her body language at times that she was a very conflicted person. It was almost like she had some kind of storm roiling just underneath her skin and that storm was threatening to break out at times. That was a state of being that Shirou could empathize with greatly so, in their relatively limited interactions, he made sure to only give as much as she did and tried to act as a calming presence. He was pretty sure he knew what her problem was and was equally sure that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it so he figured that offering himself as a source of sound stability was the best thing he could do at the moment.

Still, if he could get a chance to get to know her better, he would take it.

"I like coming here to think at times," Shirou answered her unspoken question, only reacting to her sudden arrival with a quick look at her.

"Funny. I do, too. The view of Vale from here makes it seem like the world's far away. Makes it easier to look at things objectively."

"And the closeness of the moon and stars makes it seem like your dreams are open to you while the familiar presence of Beacon reminds you that you're safe here," Shirou concluded. Blake confirmed his supposition, clearly awed that someone else saw it the way she did.

Shirou immediately ended that false belief, "Sadly, I don't see it that way. I just like it because it's quiet and the breeze is pretty nice."

Blake chuckled softly, "I suppose it has that going for it, too. I should probably leave."

"No, you don't have to. Feel free to stay. Thinking about my problems does me no good so I could use the distraction."

Blake hesitated for a moment before walking up to stand beside Shirou and join him in leaning against the railing. "The same could honestly be said for my problems. Well, most of them, anyway. There are a few that I could probably solve now."

"Now that you mention it, I have a few of those, too. For example, I still have no idea what I'm going to make for breakfast tomorrow."

Blake chuckled softly again. "Oh, that reminds me, I didn't thank you for making lunch that one time a few days ago."

Shirou waved her off, "No thanks are necessary. I'm just glad that you enjoyed it so much. I don't think I've ever seen you eat that much before or since."

Blake blushed slightly in embarrassment, "I really ate way too much that day. It's just that I've never eaten raw fish before and it was just _so_ good that I couldn't help myself."

It was Shirou's turn to chuckle, "It's okay. From the looks the others were giving it, I doubt they would have even tried the sushi anyway. I'm just thankful that someone else here would even try it. Everyone else I've offered or mentioned it to dismisses it out of hand."

"You said it's called sushi?"

"Yeah. Sushi nigiri, specifically. It's a really common dish where I'm from."

"Where _are_ you from, anyway?" The question had been an innocent one but the way Shirou's smile dropped as the life faded from his eyes made Blake want to kick herself. He didn't talk about his past just as she didn't talk about hers. She, more than anyone, can understand wanting to hide their past so what on Remnant possessed her to ask?

"I'm—" Shirou began before cutting himself off with a deep sigh.

"N-no, you don't have to say anything," Blake said quickly. Seeing the normally cheerful Shirou be so despondent didn't sit right with her. "I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay. There's no real reason for me to hide it. In fact, talking about it a bit may even help. Do you promise not to tell anyone else? I don't want anyone treating me differently because of this and I trust that you won't." Blake nodded emphatically so Shirou continued. "You won't find where I'm from on any map or record, to my knowledge. I also seriously doubt you would have heard of it."

"Why not?" Blake asked even though she feared she knew the answer.

"It was destroyed eight months ago. As far as I know, I'm the only survivor."

A story heard all too commonly throughout Remnant. People set out from the big settlements in hopes of finding a peaceful place to live with a different way of life. They find a place, they settle down, they build everything up, and then it all comes crashing down in the span of a single night. Countless settlements have suffered this fate and there were plenty of people who were either the only or one of the few survivors of them.

Still, despite their commonality, it was hard to hear about it happening. To have someone you consider a friend, someone who's extremely kind and helpful, be one such sole survivor is even harder. What does one say to such a person? Empty platitudes would likely be seen as insulting more than anything else. Should she ask him more about it or move away from the topic? She had to say something. Especially since Emiya Shirou was a young man who had always been of mild interest to her and one of major interest following the cafeteria incident.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Blake offered.

"There's not much to talk about, really. There wasn't anything special about it to most people. It was just a town. There was a local market just down the road from my house, I walked to school every day, there was a church on a hill nearby, the town was split in rural and modern halves, the architecture was a bit eclectic due to the different nationalities that lived there, we had a small park that wasn't very good— There just really isn't anything that's worth talking about."

"What about your family? Did they all live there?"

"As far as I know. My birth parents died in a fire when I was five— I don't remember anything about them or even my original family name. My adoptive father died when I was ten. My guardian who I saw as my older sister died along with everyone else in the town. My adopted father's father died when he was a kid. His mother died a bit before his dad did. His wife died shortly before the fire that claimed my parents. His biological daughter, my adopted sister, died saving my life. My adopted father was an only child and never mentioned any other relatives. His wife's family disowned him shortly after her death and wouldn't have anything to do with me. My guardian's entire family also lived in the town along with everyone else I knew."

Blake swallowed thickly. Something bad befalling her family was one of her biggest fears and here was a person who had gone through that loss and more multiple times. She had no idea how he managed to keep on going in spite of that but she found herself respecting him a lot more for it. "How did you get to Vale?"

"A guy by the name of Qrow Branwen— he's Ruby and Yang's uncle on Yang's side— found me half-dead in a ditch somewhere and drug me here. Professor Ozpin was kind enough to provide me room and board and also admission to Beacon if I could pass a few tests."

Blake nodded slowly. It certainly explained a lot of things like why they had admitted a number of new students not divisible by four. "I… really don't know what to say. I can't even imagine having to go through that."

Shirou gave her a wan smile, "Hopefully, you'll never have to."

Blake returned the smile before tentatively placing her hand on Shirou's shoulder, "I don't know what help I can be but, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll listen anytime."

Shirou's smile this time was more genuine, "Thank you, Blake. I really appreciate it."

As Shirou and Blake turned their gazes back towards Vale, both of them couldn't help but reflect on the conversation that just occured. Shirou had no idea why he decided to tell her any of that but, once the words started, he couldn't stop them. He didn't necessarily feel better but he felt a bit drained; like a nearly hollowed out husk. Going over all of that without breaking down completely as the memories assaulted him all at once had been an extremely strenuous exercise and one that left him longing for bed. The silently brooding girl next to him, however, kept him around. He had just dumped some of his burdens onto her for no good reason so it would behoove him to at least stay until she was ready leave.

As for Blake, the fact that such terrible things could happen to someone who was usually very sweet and kind gave her pause. Despite all of the cruelty and injustices the world had placed upon him, Emiya Shirou still helped people. He still helped Jaune when he was struggling on something. He still helped Ruby with her accuracy and targeting speed. He still made breakfast for Team JNPR every morning and had even invited Team RWBY earlier that day to join them. He still helped out with cleaning and minor maintenance in the school. He still came to Velvet's rescue at a moment's notice. He had even helped her a time or two when she just couldn't wrap her head around something.

If someone who had everything taken from them multiple times could continue to be such an upstanding person and answer the cruelty of the world with kindness, what did that say about the White Fang?

* * *

A/N: As always, thanks for all of the reviews. They continue to give me life.

So yeah, the Jaundice arc ended up going down pretty much the exact same way as in canon. The thing about this arc is that there really isn't anything to do with it. Sure, I could have escalated Cardin's bullying to a level where Shirou and Pyrrha had to intervene but that wouldn't have accomplished anything in the long run. As such, rather than waste my energy creating something ultimately meaningless, I decided to just repeat canon with some logical tweaks and instead use the narration to focus on Jaune's character growth and on the fact that Shirou doesn't always make good decisions. He's not going to be able to solve everyone's problems and will oftentimes not even really factor into the solution at all. This isn't Shirou's story and he isn't even the only protagonist as indicated by both the synopsis and the tags.

As I said back in the first chapter, Volume 1 is going to be pretty similar overall to canon and the story will diverge more and more as Shirou's presence (among other things) influences the world. The reason for this is that RWBY is very much a narrative-driven show, not a character-driven one. What this means is that all of the major events would happen regardless of who's around or what happens to them. There's only a handful of events in the first couple of volumes that the characters can actually affect. It's not until towards the end of Volume 3 that they can have more of an impact on major events so that's when you can look forward to bigger changes being made.


	9. V1C9: Paint the Town Red

Shirou had no idea what to expect today but something told him it was going to be a long one. The time had finally come for his planned outing with Coco and Velvet of Team CFVY and, if he was being honest, he'd rather be doing just about anything else. He didn't have anything against them, it was just that there were so many productive things he could be doing today and fraternizing with two second-years wasn't among them. Even back on Earth, he had avoided random outings with his friends for that exact same reason. If he was lucky, they either wouldn't stay out too long or otherwise he could find a reason to beg off but he didn't trust his luck.

Still, if Shirou was going to do this, he was going to do it properly. He spent part of last night going through a list of stores in Vale (which was quite a long one) and picking out a few that might be worth visiting and then made a dozen ohagi for them to eat as a snack. He even made sure to turn some of his Lien to cash just on the off chance that it was needed. He just hoped that this didn't end up anything like his disastrous date with Saber. That really wasn't something he wanted to live through twice; not that he'd be able to live this time.

Arriving at the port five minutes ahead of schedule, Shirou was surprised to see Coco and Velvet already there. As seemed to be the norm for Beacon students, both were dressed in what Shirou could only assume was their Huntress attire. At least, that appeared to be the case with Velvet and her armor but Coco's impeccably stylish clothing seemed to suggest otherwise. Of course, only a handful of students at the school— and not that many more fully trained Hunters— seemed to realize that having actual armor to fall back on in case your Aura broke was a good idea so it probably _was_ what she fought in.

Shirou called out to them and Coco simply pulled her sunglasses down and gave Shirou a very incredulous look over the rim. "This won't do at all," she said, her voice full of disapproval.

"What won't?" Shirou asked.

"Your outfit. Is that seriously what you're going to wear?"

Shirou looked down at himself. Not wanting to casually walk about the city in full armor, Shirou had forgone his Hunter attire and instead wore a white, long-sleeved shirt with blue sleeves and blue jeans; his sword and quiver strapped where they belonged.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" Shirou asked, oddly defensive. Minor variations of this outfit had been his go-to set of clothes for just about as long as he could remember.

"It's extremely bland and would make you blend in if it weren't for the weapons. How are you going to be a good Huntsman if you aren't memorable?"

"What does being memorable had to do with being a good Huntsman? Besides, it's not like I wear this if I'm expecting a fight."

"Um, what's in the bag?" Velvet suddenly asked, wishing to end this before her friend and leader got out of control.

"Oh, just some treats I made," Shirou said as he held the bag up. "I figured we could eat them as a snack later."

"A hero _and_ a cook? Looks like you've got a good eye, Velv. Even _if_ his fashion leaves a lot to be desired," Coco said. Velvet violently blushed at that, hiding her face behind her hands with a squeak, even as Shirou was torn between confusion and annoyance. "Anyway, let's get going. We've got a lot of places to hit up today."

OoOoOoO

Shirou suppressed a groan as he all but collapsed in a chair, the mountain of bags he had been carrying placed carefully to the side. It was now just past twelve and the past three hours had been spent following Coco from store to store, going through more types and styles of clothing than Shirou even knew existed. It also seemed like Coco had made it her mission for the day to instruct Shirou in the subtleties of fashion since she had gone on and on about color coordination, pattern synergy and their effects, the pros and cons of various materials, and other related subjects that sounded more complicated than one of Tohsaka's mega lectures on Thaumaturgy. The entire lesson culminated in a test as Coco led them to a store that specialized in Huntsmen's fashion and told Shirou to construct three different outfits and present himself to her in them. The first set had been halfheartedly and quickly thrown together but this just inspired Coco's ire so Shirou felt almost compelled to actually put some effort into it.

Thankfully, Shirou wasn't completely thrown to the wolves. Velvet had been an absolute godsend during the trip, actually talking about things Shirou could follow and comment on whenever Coco seemed to be taking a break and even inquiring as to what Shirou had been up to lately. During his "final exam", she had even taken to giving subtle hints and advice about what he should wear. She had been the anchor of Shirou's sanity during this trip and, without her, he'd probably still be trying to put together outfits that were up to Coco's standards.

At least Coco was kind enough to purchase the outfit she deemed the best for him so there was that. She was also pleasant to talk to when not talking about fashion and both she and Velvet had practically sung his praises when they tried his ohagi. That was followed by Coco giving Velvet a look of approval— at least, Shirou assumed it was one given that she never took off her sunglasses— and mutter something that made the rabbit Faunus blush brightly.

And now Shirou found himself sitting at an outdoor cafe, utterly spent from carrying not only his bag but the two Velvet had and the twenty Coco had. He'd actually even been forced to use his Aura to not only strengthen himself but also protect himself from the handles that were cutting into his hands.

It was at that moment that Shirou realized why Fox and Yatsuhashi, the male half of Team CFVY, decided to not go out that day.

As Shirou took a sip of some sort of designer coffee Coco insisted that he try (he had to admit that it was actually really good even though he wasn't normally fond of the stuff), he let his gaze wander through the street, idly noting the people passing by. He was just beginning to wonder if he should try to beg off or at least insist that they return to the dorms to drop off their bags when a group of blessedly familiar people caught his attention.

"Ruby! Wiess! Blake! Yang!" Shirou called out with a wave. From their seats across from him, Coco and Velvet turned to look as Ruby returned the wave before coming towards them with the rest of her team.

"Hey, Shirou! What are you doing here?" Yang asked.

"A reward, of sorts. Everyone, this is Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina of Team CFVY. Coco, Velvet; this is Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long of Team RWBY."

"You were the one Cardin was harassing during lunch last week," Blake pointed out.

Velvet smiled bashfully, "Yeah, that was me. Coco insisted on Shirou coming with us today as a reward."

"In truth," Shirou interjected, "I'm pretty sure Coco just wanted someone to carry her bags and that was a convenient excuse."

Coco smiled all too innocently at Shirou, "I got you an outfit."

"You did," Shirou allowed with a nod, "but only after you filled my head full of fashion knowledge and then forced me to construct three outfits that met your standards."

"I allowed Velvet to help you."

"If she hadn't, we'd still be in that store," Shirou countered. Coco nodded slowly in concession and said nothing further, taking a sip of her coffee.

When it was clear that Coco would say no more, Shirou turned to Team RWBY, who had been watching the back-and-forth with varying levels of interest and amusement. From the look in Weiss' eye, he suspected that she would be finding a reason to "reward" him in the future as well. "So, what are you girls up to?"

"We wanted to check out the decorations for the Vytal Festival," Ruby answered excitedly.

"Man, they really start preparing for that thing early," Shirou said.

"Well, of course they are," Weiss said. "It's a week-long festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! Everything has to be at a scale and quality that befits such a momentous event."

Shirou thought back to the Olympics on Earth and nodded in agreement. "I suppose. So why are you headed toward the docks? Pretty sure that's the only thing down that way."

Weiss opened her mouth to answer only to be cut off by Blake. "Weiss wants to spy on the students arriving from Vacuo so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament."

Shirou shook his head even as Weiss scoffed and stated that Blake couldn't prove a thing. "Why can't people just be honest with what they want?" Shirou wondered aloud to himself.

"Hey, since we ran into you, do you want to come with us?" Ruby offered.

Shirou had to resist the urge to take Ruby's hand and run away with her offer. "Well, I don't mind. Did you have any other place you wanted to go, Coco?"

"Not particularly. Besides, this is supposed to be your reward," Coco smiled innocently at Shirou's incredulous look, "so you're free to do whatever you want."

Shirou looked to Velvet. "Oh, it's fine!" she said quickly. "I really appreciate you joining us today. It was a lot of fun. We should get together again sometime."

"And I promise not to make you carry all the bags next time," Coco added with a smile that was reinforced when Shirou gave her another incredulous look. Shirou felt almost compelled to believe her and that just made him all the more suspicious.

"Maybe we shall," Shirou said slowly as he got up. "Will you be fine carrying all those bags?" Even if he didn't like it, it was against his nature to both leave things unfinished and to abandon a duty that had been given to him.

"Oh, that's no problem," Coco said as she pulled a rectangular object about the size of a brick from her handbag. She pressed a button somewhere on it and tossed it to the side where it quickly unfurled into a shopping trolley. "We'll just use this."

Shirou couldn't put a name to what he was feeling but it wasn't a good one. "You mean you— Ever since— You've had me— All this time—" Unable to form a sentence, Shirou simply gave up, his head and shoulders slumping in defeat.

"Don't worry about your outfit. Just text me when you get back and I'll give it to you."

"Yeah, thanks. Come on, let's go," Shirou said, his voice empty as he trudged towards the docks. At this, Yang couldn't hold it in anymore and began laughing uproariously, doubled over and gripping her stomach. Weiss looked at the smiling Coco with great approval as Blake looked at Shirou with sympathy.

Being the only one of her team not otherwise preoccupied, Ruby spoke up before heading off herself, "It was nice meeting you!"

"Nice meeting you, too."

OoOoOoO

"Whoa. What happened here?" Ruby asked a bit later as she approached a police line that was blocking off a shop with a broken window.

"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle," the officer on duty said as he finished writing down some notes on his notepad before walking off.

"That's terrible," Yang stated the obvious with a sigh.

"Why would someone do this?" Ruby asked no one in particular.

"Well, let's think about it, shall we?" Shirou said. "What are the reasons someone would steal Dust in the first place?"

"To resell on the black market," Blake answered.

"Yes but there's practically no black market for Dust in Vale," Shirou said.

"How do you know that?" Yang asked.

"Because the existence of the black market is dependant on the availability and pricing of items. In Vale, Dust is readily available and fairly cheap. There's almost no reason someone would purchase Dust illegally and possibly at an outrageous price when they can easily do so legally for not much. Also," Shirou turned towards the storefront and reinforced his eyes, quickly examining everything he could see, "this store sells average quality Dust at standard market value. Not a particularly good target for a theft."

"Maybe it's personal. The thief might have had a grudge with the shop's owner and decided to get back at them by stealing their product," Weiss suggested. "Alternatively, it could be a rival business owner wishing to destroy them."

"Both possible but unlikely. A rival business owner is almost certainly not the case given that the store owner will be reimbursed by the Kingdom and that there's _plenty_ of competition in the area. Of course, they may have had other motives but that's just speculation. While it's possible that someone took advantage of the rash of Dust robberies to cover up their crime, it's best to assume that the person or group behind the previous ones are behind this one as well."

"I wouldn't really call two robberies a rash," Weiss said.

"There have been sixteen robberies of Dust stores in the past month alone. In all instances, this one included, only Dust was stolen. As such, barring other evidence, it's safe to assume that it's the same person or group."

"There have been sixteen?" Ruby asked in alarm.

"That's right. Am I the only one who watches the news?"

Ruby, Yang, and Blake all pointedly avoided looking at Shirou while Weiss said, "I follow the stock market."

"But how do you know about the money thing?" Yang asked. "There's no way you could know that the money hasn't been taken here." Shirou gestured with his head towards the two detectives, one of whom was exiting the store with a stack of Lien in an evidence bag. "Oh."

"Maybe they're building up an army?" Ruby posited.

Shirou nodded grimly, "That's the most likely reason. There's even a group out there who are no doubt the prime suspects."

"The White Fang," Weiss said sourly.

Shirou nodded again. "They have a motive, the manpower, and a history of stealing large quantities of Dust. The last of which being a train robbery that took place about eight months ago."

"I'm aware of it," Weiss said as Blake suddenly became interested in a building across the street. "That Dust belonged to my family's company. Turned out one of the Faunus working at the shipping yard was a mole and tipped them off."

"Right. Anyway, the chances are good that they're the ones behind this."

"It doesn't make sense, though," Blake suddenly interjected, very antsy for some reason. "Why would they rob a random Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale?"

"Simple: To send a message. They're robbing us of ammunition in the heart of what should be one of the safest cities on the planet and there's nothing we can do to stop them." Blake opened her mouth to respond but stopped and closed it, biting her lip. She had no way to dispute that.

"I suppose those degenerates can be clever when they want to be," Weiss said. Blake spun sharply around and had to visibly restrain herself from shouting at the heiress.

"Maybe it was that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago. The police never caught him," Ruby suggested.

"Roman Torchwick is one of the seediest criminals in all of Vale," Shirou said, "but he has no use for that much Dust. While you _did_ confront him at the scene of one of the first robberies in this crime spree and those goons you knocked out apparently didn't say a word, there has to be someone who's backing him and the only group I'm currently aware of who would and could do that is the White Fang."

"Besides, there's no way the White Fang would work with a Human," Weiss said.

"Not necessarily true," Shirou refuted. "While it's true that a large number of the White Fang wishes to see Humanity either extinct or firmly under the heels of the Faunus, that's not true for _all_ of them. Even those who _do_ want that might concede to the logic of using a Human who has access to highly valuable information and resources that they do not."

Blake looked down, her eyes shifting from side-to-side as she considered everything she knew. "Yeah, that makes sense," she conceded.

"Of course it does," Weiss said haughtily. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal. Why miss a golden opportunity to do all three at once?"

"That's not necessarily true…" Yang said uneasily as Blake looked like she was about to strangle the heiress. Thankfully, the murder _in potentia_ was stopped by a cry from the docks.

"Hey, stop that Faunus!" someone on one of the boats said. Team RWBY plus Shirou quickly turned to the source of the call and rushed to investigate just in time to see a blond monkey Faunus leap onto the boat's forward railing.

"Thanks for the ride, guys!" he said with a laugh before jumping down to the docks and taking off.

"You no-good Faunus!" one of the pursuing sailors said as he reached the edge.

The monkey Faunus had apparently decided to fulfill every stereotype at once as he hung upside down by his tail on a lamppost while peeling a banana he had gotten from somewhere. "Hey! I like to think I'm a pretty _great_ Faunus!"

"Hey! Get down from there this instant!" one of the detectives from earlier shouted up at the monkey Faunus, throwing a stone at him for good measure. The Faunus paused and grinned mischievously down at him before dropping the banana peel on his face.

Laughing in amusement, the Faunus twirled up on top of the lamppost before leaping down and running off. As he ran past Team RWBY, he slowed down just enough to turn and give a stunned Blake a wink before running straight into Shirou's clothesline-turned-choke slam which he had been too busy flirting to see coming.

Surprised as he was, the monkey Faunus proved surprisingly skilled as he wrapped his legs around Shirou's extended arm before grabbing his wrist with both hands and twisting while striking Shirou's shoulder with his crossed legs. As Shirou was forced to let go, the Faunus released his leg lock and rolled onto his upper back, pulling Shirou forward and onto the soles of his feet. He paused to smirk before attempting to launch Shirou away but this paused was long enough for Shirou to grab his ankle with his free hand. Instead of sending the redhead flying, the monkey Faunus only succeeding in pushing him back and helping him to give his right leg a hard yank.

Not one to be deterred, the Faunus kicked Shirou's wrist to force him to let go before quickly spinning onto his feet. He had just enough time to see Shirou's haymaker before the attack collided with his jaw. Following the force of the blow, the Faunus spun around and used his tail to grab Shirou's wrist and jerk him forward into his elbow. As Shirou staggered backward, stunned, the Faunus brushed past him and gave a jaunty salute before running off.

Growling, Shirou reached into his pocket and projected a flat kunai into his hand before drawing it and throwing it at the Faunus. Much to his surprise, the monkey Faunus spun around mid-stride and snatched it out of the air.

"Cool knife! Hope you don't mind if I keep it!" he said before disappearing around a corner, the officers in hot pursuit now that their target wasn't otherwise engaged.

"Are you okay, Shirou?" Ruby asked, walking up to the redhead who was rubbing at his nose.

Shirou opened his mouth to respond only to be interrupted by Weiss. "That was absolutely perfect!" she said while clapping her hands together with maniacal glee. "That ruffian was no doubt one of the competitors from Vacuo and, thanks to Shirou, we got to see him in action!"

"I'm fine," Shirou said, more annoyed by the fact that one of his projections got nabbed than by the fact that he lost. "And I'm glad I could help. Still, we should probably go after him. I seriously doubt those detectives could capture him."

"You want to capture him?" Blake asked.

"Of course I do. He broke, like, five laws in the span of two minutes. Are you suggesting that criminals shouldn't be caught?" Blake quickly tilted her head to the side and hummed in acknowledgment of the point but said nothing as her thoughts consumed her.

With Blake silent and the others not looking like they disagreed, Shirou turned and sprinted in the direction the Faunus disappeared in. As he rounded the corner, he found himself slamming into someone and tripping, making both of them fall forward. Not wanting to accidentally harm someone, especially since this someone was smaller than him, he instinctively moved to position himself under them.

This turned out to be the worst mistake of Shirou's life on Remnant.

The collision with the ground wasn't that bad but, as the smaller person landed on him, Shirou suddenly knew what it was like to be sat on by an elephant. Despite the redhead's diminutive stature and lithe frame, they were somehow crushing his ribcage just by laying on top of him. Thankfully, the smaller person seemed to realize this and quite quickly got up.

"Oh my goodness! Are you alright? Do you require assistance?" she asked.

"I'm fine!" Shirou managed to wheeze out before descending into a coughing fit. When he stopped, he just laid there and stared up at the sky.

"I'm done with today," he said as he looked like he was torn between wanting to laugh and cry. "I get roped into being someone's servant as a joke, get thrown into a cram session on fashion that I never asked for, get forced to take a ridiculous test on fashion, get my ass kicked by a criminal, and then get crushed half to death by a girl I was trying to protect. I am completely done with today and it's only one in the afternoon."

Ruby Rose suddenly appeared in his vision, smiling sympathetically down at him as she held her hand out. "Well, at least it can't get any worse," she said helpfully.

Shirou took the offered hand and stood up. "Oh god, please don't say that," he said before returning Ruby's smile. "Are you okay?" he asked the girl he had ran into who had been smiling absently at them after Shirou said he was fine.

"I'm _wonderful_! Thank you for asking," she said, her voice strangely intoned. "Are you certain that you don't require assistance?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Oh! I should introduce myself! Sal-u-ta-tions! My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!" the strange girl said happily.

"I'm Shirou."

"Hi, Penny. I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked only to have Blake elbow her in the side. "Oh, I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny said.

"You already said that," Weiss pointed out.

Penny paused for a moment in contemplation. "So I did!"

"Well, I'm sorry for running into you," Shirou said before walking away with Team RWBY.

"Take care, friend!" Ruby called out with a wave.

When they had gotten a decent distance away, Yang spoke up. "She was… _weird_ …"

"Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?" Weiss asked herself as she looked around for signs of him. Shirou just so happened to know almost precisely where he was since he was still holding on to that projected kunai but he had no way of revealing this without also revealing that ability so he chose to say nothing. Not that he had to make the choice as they found a rather intense Penny suddenly standing in front of them.

"What did you call me?" Penny asked.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!" Yang quickly said.

"No, not you," Penny said dismissively before pushing her way through the group to stand before Ruby. " _You._ "

Ruby looked very much like a cornered rabbit at that moment. " _Me?_ I-I don't know. I, what, I, um, uh…?"

"You called me 'friend'!" Penny said. "Am I _really_ your friend?"

"Umm…" Ruby looked over Penny's shoulder to her teammates and Shirou. The former were violently shaking their heads while the latter shrugged. "Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?" she said, ignoring Shirou's cry of pain as Weiss smacked him in the back of the head.

As for Penny, she looked like all of her birthdays came at once. "Sen-sational! We can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys!"

"Oh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby asked Weiss with a groan.

"Thankfully, no," Weiss said.

"So… what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament."

"Wait, _you're_ fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asked incredulously.

Penny gave a little salute. "I'm combat ready!"

"Forgive me but you hardly look the part."

"Says the girl wearing a dress," Blake snidely remarked.

Weiss crossed her arms, "It's a combat skirt!"

In a flurry of rose petals, Ruby was by Weiss' side, her arms also crossed. "Yeah!" she said before low-fiving Weiss.

"I once knew a girl who fought in a full dress. She was the best swordsman I knew," Shirou remarked although he couldn't be certain if anyone paid attention.

"Wait a minute," Weiss said as she realized something. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed… rapscallion?"

"The who?" Penny asked.

"The filthy Faunus from the boat!" Weiss said as she pulled a crude drawing of him from somewhere.

"Why do you keep saying that‽" Blake said, more than a little offended.

"Huh?"

"Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"

"Now, calm down, girls," Shirou said as he started to step between them, moving his hands in a placating gesture. "There's no need to—"

 **"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!"** they both said in unison. Shirou quickly threw his hands up in surrender before returning to the others, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Ruby gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and another sympathetic smile.

"You need to stop that!" Blake said to Weiss.

"Stop _what?_ He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!"

Blake growled dangerously as the air was filled with killing intent. "You ignorant little _brat!_ "

A look of hurt and betrayal flashed across Weiss' face as Blake spun sharply around and started to walk off. Clearly not finished, Weiss gave chase. "How dare you talk to me like that! _I_ am your teammate!"

" _You_ are a judgemental little girl."

"What in the world makes you say that?"

"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!"

Yang slid up next to Ruby and Shirou, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "Um, I think we should probably go…"

Shirou was torn between wanting to help and wanting to leave them to their own business. The memory of how terribly his day has gone so far made him choose the latter. "Yeah, let's."

"Where are we going?" Penny asked as she popped up behind Ruby.

"So you admit it!" Weiss said, still focused on her argument. "The White Fang _is_ a just a radical group of terrorists!"

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Blake retorted.

As the two girls continued to argue, Shirou and the others slowly backed away before deciding to go get a late lunch from the other side of town.

OoOoOoO

Unfortunately for Ruby and Yang, Weiss and Blake's argument wasn't a one-time issue. For the rest of the day, the most random of subjects and incidents would spark another argument and every attempt at mediation resulted in a swift and fierce rebuke; seemingly the only thing both girls could agree upon anymore.

"I don't understand _why_ this is causing such a problem!" Weiss said in their dorm that night. They had only just settled down into their beds when another argument got triggered by what Ruby and Yang could only assume was some kind of telepathy since no one had been talking.

"That _is_ the problem!" Blake said as if that explained everything.

Weiss got up from her bed. "You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"

Blake followed suit. "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like _you_ , that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"People like _me_?"

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!" Weiss and Blake glared at each other for a long moment before Weiss decided something. She leaned in and spoke quietly; not that it stopped Ruby and Yang from hearing her. "You want to know _why_ I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" She leaned against the bookshelf underneath the window, her expression a cold, impassive mask as she dug into some rather unpleasant memories. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in _actual_ bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust stolen. And, every day, my father would come home furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." The last sentence was accompanied by Weiss banging her fist against the bookshelf, the only display of emotion she had shown that entire time.

Ruby, who had gotten down part way through, walked over to Weiss and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Weiss, I—"

"No!" Weiss said sharply. She paused and reigned her anger in, oddly comforted by Ruby's hand, before gently moving it away and saying "No" once more but in a much softer voice.

Weiss turned her attention back to Blake, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

Blake had no idea how to react. She had been fully aware of the more… extreme measures the White Fang had taken against certain targets and even knew that the Schnee Dust Company was one such target. However, for whatever reason, she had never put the pieces together and realized just how that would have affected Weiss and those around her. No, it was more like she didn't let herself put those pieces together. If she didn't know what their actions had done, she wouldn't be burdened by any more grief.

Of course, there was still the matter that Weiss was insulting some very good, if misguided, people and that she was lumping _all_ Faunus in with the White Fang. Such blatant racism shouldn't be tolerated no matter how logical the reason for its existence. Then there was the fact that, despite her best efforts, Blake was taking the entire thing rather personally so trying to remain objective had been long since impossible.

Conflicted as she was, Blake said the first thing that came to mind. "Well, maybe _we_ were just tired of being pushed around!"

Blake was horrified for more than one reason as the words left her mouth. She glanced around quickly, looking between her shocked teammates and seeing nothing but judgment and condemnation in their expressions no matter how they tried to hide it. "I… I…" Unable to take it, Blake rushed out of the dorm as quickly as she could.

"Blake, wait! Come back!" Ruby called after her but she was already gone.

OoOoOoO

Outside of Beacon, Blake came to a stop at the fountain in the central plaza. The fine stonework depicting a Huntsman and Huntress standing atop of a cliff overlooking a Beowolf felt particularly symbolic to her at the moment.

Burdened by the weight of her sins, Blake finally let herself cry. Almost on their own, her arms rose to her ever-present bow and untied it, the familiar accessory feeling more like a ball-and-chain than ever. As she pulled it away, her black cat ears were, at last, revealed to the world, drooped in sadness.

"I knew you would look better without the bow," a familiar voice said. Blake spun around, startled, only see Emiya Shirou standing not five feet away.

"Shirou! You— When— How— What do you mean you _knew_?" Blake asked.

"Well, let's see: Your behaviors and habits have reminded me of a cat on more than one occasion, you react _very_ strongly to practically any mention of the Faunus or White Fang— you practically burnt holes in me when I stopped Cardin from assaulting Velvet, the color of your eyes is one not found in Humans but isn't uncommon in Faunus, you have the best night vision out of everyone, you wear that bow more than Ruby wears her cloak, and I've seen that bow twitch a few times for seemingly no reason. Taken all together, you being a Faunus is the only logical conclusion."

Blake was unsure whether to feel embarrassed, upset, or some other emotion so she settled for numb. "When you lay it out like that, it makes me wonder why I even bothered to hide it in the first place."

"To be fair, most people don't really pay attention to small details like that. I only do because my father impressed upon me the importance of seeing everything."

"He sounds like a smart man. How long have you known?"

"Known? Not until just now. But I've been almost certain of it for a couple of weeks."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"What was there to say? You had your reasons for hiding it and I fully understand, perhaps better than anyone else in our class, wanting to keep certain things a secret. You would tell me when you wanted to; if you wanted to."

"Well… thanks… Shirou."

"It's not a problem. I assume that your argument with Weiss led to you saying things you shouldn't have?"

"They now know I'm a Faunus. And that I used to be a member of the White Fang." Shirou's complete lack of surprise at this revelation only served to make Blake feel like even more of an idiot. "You knew that, too?"

"Not until this afternoon. It had been a remote possibility before then. Do you want to go back to your team?" Blake shook her head. "I still have an apartment in Vale. If you want, we can spend the night there."

"'We'?"

"Yes, we. If you insist, I'll just give you my key and the address but it's really best if you have someone available to talk to. You don't have to if you don't want to."

"I… think I'd like that," Blake said, a ghost of a smile crossing her face.

"Good. Let's get going before the rest of your team shows up."

"Hey, Shirou?"

"Hm?"

"What were you going here anyway?"

"I have trouble sleeping sometimes and a walk outside helps a bit. Besides, our dorms share a wall and you and Weiss were being quite loud."

Blake ducked her head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry."

Shirou gave her a comforting smile. "It's quite alright, Blake."

* * *

A/N: As always, all of the reviews are greatly appreciated.

So, Sun was replaced by Shirou at the end of this chapter. As you can probably expect, this means that he won't be showing up for the showdown at the docks next chapter. I expect and Sun fans reading this will be mad at me for that but I have a number of reasons for it. For starters, it was really easy to get Shirou to be at the fountain at that time and thus I could use him to make events diverge from canon a bit and thus make the climax of Volume 1 more interesting to read. Not only that but this one change, as minor as it seems, is also the biggest one in the story so far that came about due to actions the characters took. I'm not kidding when I say that you'll be seeing the effects of this change for literally the entire story.

In case you're wondering, Sun still showed up at the fountain but he saw Shirou wandering around and didn't feel like messing with him so he took off.

Next up is the Volume 1 finale. Hang on to your hats, folks. It's gonna be a doozy.


	10. V1C10: Uncomfortable Truths

Ruby sighed as she looked over at Blake's empty bed when she woke up. They had practically turned Beacon upside down looking for her the previous night and had been forced to retire for the night when 3 am came and went with no luck. Ruby had held on to the hope that their wayward friend would return during the night but that clearly hadn't been the case.

After getting everyone else up, Ruby trudged to the kitchen where Teams RWBY and JNPR ate breakfast only to find Team JNPR sitting around the table with no Shirou or food in sight.

"Where's Shirou?" Ruby asked as she took a seat next to Ren.

"No idea," Jaune said. "He's usually up and in here before any of us."

"We just figured he slept through his alarm or something so we're letting him sleep in," Nora said.

Ruby shared a concerned look with her teammates before getting up and walking off. "Hey, where's Blake?" Ren asked.

"We don't know," Yang said with a sigh. "There was an argument last night and some things were said that made her run off."

"Have you tried calling her?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, but she won't answer. That little Aura reading app says she's fine so at least there's that."

"Shirou's not in his room," Ruby said as she returned.

"Now that's odd. Shirou is very much a creature of habit so something must have forced a change of schedule," Ren said.

"Maybe he's with Blake?" Ruby suggested.

"They _have_ been a lot closer this past week," Yang commented.

"Have you already checked around Beacon?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, we did that last night."

"Then they're probably somewhere in Vale. I'll make us something to eat and then we can start searching," Ren said as he got up and walked over to the pantry.

"Oh, you don't have to do that! You guys can do whatever you were gonna do. We can search for Blake," Ruby said.

"Nonsense. Blake is our friend, too, so, even if she _is_ with Shirou, we should help look for her," Pyrrha said.

"Thanks, guys. This really means a lot to us," Yang said as she smiled at Team JNPR.

"Ah, don't mention it. It's the least we can do," Jaune said.

As the conversation turned to more casual topics, Ruby looked over to Weiss, who had been silent the entire time. Her partner was currently staring blankly down at her Scroll, looking as if she was reading something but Ruby knew better. She would have to try and talk to her in private at some point before they found Blake. While she was terrible at this sort of thing, she got the impression that her friend could really use a sympathetic ear and providing just that was the least she could do.

OoOoOoO

When Blake awoke, it took her a few moments to remember just where she was and what she was doing there. Once her mind caught up, she struggled with trying to decide what emotion she should be feeling more of and in what order she should be feeling them. Her argument with Weiss had been disastrous, to say the least, and Shirou revealing what he knew and for how long made her feel like a child trying to hide that they had eaten from the cookie jar despite the crumbs all over their face. And now she found herself in his apartment, laying in his bed, wearing one of his pajamas (which fit her surprisingly well), and he was currently cooking breakfast if her nose was anything to go by.

Blake really didn't know why she had accepted Shirou's offer. Well, she knew exactly why but she shouldn't have done it anyway. She had made a mess of everything, revealed things that should have been left secret, and now she had drug Shirou into her problems. Well, no more. She would get dressed and then quietly slip out the window down the fire escape. From there, she could—

"If you're thinking about running away, I really wish you wouldn't," Shirou said from in the kitchen.

Blake froze in her movement, her heart suddenly pounding in her chest. How did Shirou know what she had been thinking? How did he even know that she was awake? She knew her friend was very perceptive but this level was just too much. She contemplated bolting anyway but decided that doing so would just be an insult to his hospitality and decided instead to confront him. That being said, she didn't want to confront him while wearing his pajamas but a cursory inspection of the room (which was almost painfully bare; containing only a bed and a clock) didn't turn up her clothing and she didn't feel comfortable rooting around his closet.

With no other option that she wished to take, Blake stepped out of Shirou's bedroom while still wearing his pajamas.

"Glad to see you're awake," Shirou said, his back to her as he worked away in the kitchen of his apartment. "I'm sorry that your clothes aren't ready. I threw them in the wash and you woke up before they were done. It'll only be a few more minutes now."

"That's alright. I've imposed more than enough as is. You really didn't have to do that," Blake said as she walked over to the small couch and took a seat. Somewhat unsurprisingly, she found a pot of coffee sitting on the coffee table along with two cups and various additives. Actually taking the time to look around the place, she found that Shirou's entire apartment was just as scarcely furnished as his bedroom had been and there wasn't a decoration to be found anywhere. The closest thing was a small bookshelf that was filled with about a dozen reference books.

"It's the least I could do. You are my guest and, as such, I must be a good host. Breakfast will be finished in just a moment then you are free to use the bath. Your clothes will be finished drying by the time you get out."

Blake stared down into her coffee, her hands gripping the mug tightly as she swallowed thickly and tried to get a hold of her emotions. "Thank you, Shirou."

"It's no problem. After all, what are friends for?"

As Shirou laid out breakfast— grilled fish, rice, a murky soup that he said was called miso soup, pickles, and a strange looking omelet; Blake warred with herself. This absurd level of hospitality wasn't something she had ever experienced before and certainly wasn't something she expected to receive from someone who knew she was a Faunus. In fact, she felt very exposed at the moment, sitting as she was with her cat ears and secrets fully out in the open. Emiya Shirou was definitely someone she could explicitly trust but she had become so used to deception and lies that having all of them torn away felt so _wrong_ that she had no idea how to deal with it.

As they ate, Blake tried to figure out just what it was she wanted to do. She hated to impose on Shirou any more than she already had but the idea of bearing it all to a sympathetic ear was certainly very appealing. While there's no way Shirou could fully understand what the Faunus went through, he had already demonstrated himself to be of a very open mind and compassionate disposition so he would at least be able to sympathize and probably wouldn't judge her.

After they finished eating, Shirou collected their dishes and returned to the kitchen to clean up. "Feel free to use the shower. The bathroom is opposite my room. I'd prepare the bath for you but it's just a shower. A clean towel and sponge are sitting on the sink."

"Oh. Uh… Th-thanks. I think I'll do that," Blake said almost absently as she both contemplated her future actions and continued to be amazed at the hospitality.

"I'll lay your clothes out on my bed once they're done. Sadly, there's nothing I can really do about your undergarments so you'll have to make due with the ones you're currently wearing."

"That's fine. Th-thanks again, Shirou."

"Again, it's no problem."

OoOoOoO

While Blake got dressed after her shower, she contemplated one of the conclusions she had reached during it. There was something about Shirou's apartment that had been nagging at her ever since she set foot in it and that nagging feeling had only been exacerbated by his insane hospitality. The discovery of both a hair towel and hair dryer that he'd have no reason to own only cemented the discovery.

Emiya Shirou did not care about his own wellbeing.

There was absolutely nothing not strictly necessary in the apartment outside of the kitchen. No decorations, no special furniture, no television or radio, no works of fiction, no board games, nothing. The furniture he _did_ have was so bland as to be virtually nondescript and the layout was purely pragmatic; favoring function over form.

Now, given what she knew of his history, it might be safe to assume that Shirou simply didn't own many personal items and what he _did_ own was in his room at Beacon but Blake had been inside his room on more than one occasion for study sessions. She knew that his room there was just as scarcely furnished as his room here. Aside from his clothing, weapons, and Scroll; he _had_ no personal effects.

Emiya Shirou was a man who would go out of his way to ensure the comfort and wellbeing of others but spared no thought for himself in regards to such matters. Even in the short time she had known him, Blake had countless memories of him doing things for others but couldn't think of a single instance of him doing something for himself aside from telling her his past but, even then, she wondered. He had never even so much as asked for help with schoolwork. Even his outing with Coco and Velvet seemed to have been done purely because Coco had practically forced him.

No matter how much she thought about it, this fact made no sense to Blake. Did Shirou deny himself everything because he had lost everything twice? Did he fear losing everything again? But how does that explain him being so unusually willing to help others and be seemingly unwilling to ask for help in return? Then again, could she ever really understand someone who had gone through what he had? She had never gone through anything like that herself, after all, and if he could never fully understand what she went through due to their differences, what made her think she could ever fully understand what he went through?

Assuming that she could understand him was certainly the height of hubris.

Accepting that fact, Blake resolved herself. She would continue to impose on Shirou by revealing her burdens fully to him but she would also remain vigilant. If it ever looked like he needed help with anything, no matter what it was, she would offer him her help. No, she would _insist_ that she help him since there was no doubt in her mind that he would refuse any offer.

It was the least she could do for such a wonderful friend.

OoOoOoO

Blake sat down on the small couch in Shirou's apartment, a fresh cup of coffee in her hand. Across from her, in a simple chair, sat Shirou who was flipping through his herbology textbook. She knew that he wouldn't say or ask anything and would gladly sit through any amount of awkward silence to ensure that she only spoke when she wanted. Blake admired him for that and decided to get it over with.

"I've been a member of the White Fang for nearly all of my life," Blake began suddenly. Shirou looked up at her before shutting his book and setting it aside, giving her his undivided attention. "You could almost say I was born into it. Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between Humans and the Faunus. Of course, despite being promised equality, the Faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people. And I was there. I was at the front of every rally. I took part in every boycott. I actually thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist.

"Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down and a new one took his place. A new leader with a new way of thinking. Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor. And the worst part was, it was working. We were being treated like equals. But not out of respect… out of fear.

"So, I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence and instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am; a criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little black bow."

Shirou and Blake sat in silence for a moment before Shirou nodded. "I see. Just to be clear, I am familiar with the history of the White Fang. As such, I'm pretty sure I know who your parents are and thus can guess how that impacted your later decisions." Blake nodded slowly, not terribly surprised. "Now, I won't say that you're not a criminal or anything like that. Actions you've taken as a member of the White Fang after Sienna Khan took over hurt a lot of people; directly and indirectly. Those are the sins you bear and no one in this world can free you from them. Only you have the power to do that."

Blake's cat ears drooped as she stared into her coffee, "I know."

"That being said, I can tell that you're trying to atone for them. That's one of the reasons you want to be a Huntress, right?"

"That's right. I'm also hoping that, if I become famous, I can do something for the Faunus as a whole."

Shirou nodded, "An admirable goal. Of course, you _do_ realize that becoming a Huntress will mean that you'll end up fighting the White Fang, right? So long as they remain a terrorist organization, you will be called to fight them."

"I know. I don't like it but I'll be ready to do what needs to be done when the time comes."

"Let's hope you are. I take it you haven't told any of this to your teammates?"

"No, I haven't. Not directly, anyway. Last night, while I was arguing with Weiss, I implied that I was a Faunus and a member, though."

"How did they react?"

"I don't know. I ran before they really could."

Shirou hummed, "I'd suggest that you return to them and explain everything but the choice is yours."

Blake was silent for a long while, lost in thought. "I still don't believe that the White Fang is behind all of these thefts. They've never needed this much Dust before."

"So you want to look into it? Find out one way or the other?"

"Yes, but I don't really know how to go about doing that." At her words, Shirou pulled out his Scroll and began working on it. "What are you doing?"

"The docking and departure schedules for ships is a matter of public record. All I need to do is check the records to see if any ships from Dust companies are either currently at port or are about to make port. While it's impossible to say if our thief will target something that large, staking out a cargo ship is a lot easier than trying to stake out every Dust shop in Vale. Ah, here we go. A freighter from the Schnee Dust Company is going to be making port at Dock 113 this Monday."

"So, if they're going to make a move, it'll be then. Alright. I'm going to wait and stake the place out Monday night and see if anything happens."

"Very well. Then I'll help you."

"No, you really shouldn't. You shouldn't miss a day of school because of me."

"Blake, a single day of school won't matter. Besides, if someone _does_ show up to steal it, they'll need to be stopped no matter who they are and that'll be a lot easier with the two of us. This is especially true if the White Fang really is behind it."

Blake gave Shirou an indecipherable look for a long moment before relenting. "If you insist. Thanks, Shirou."

"You really should stop thanking me so much. This really is no trouble at all."

OoOoOoO

The City of Vale was a shining example of mankind's prowess. Every kind of shop imaginable could be found, any type of food you'd ever want was yours, all kinds of entertainment was at the disposal of its residents, and the citizens enjoyed a great degree of safety thanks to not only Vale's military but also the presence of Beacon Academy not that far away and a number of lesser academies that dotted the area.

That being said, it was also a sprawling maze filled to the brim with people so trying to find one specific person there was a lot like finding a needle in a haystack. As if that wasn't enough, the ever approaching Vytal Festival meant that even more people were here than usual. All of this meant that, even after twelve hours of searching, Team JNPR and the remains of Team RWBY were no closer to finding Blake than they had been when they started. They had even gone so far as to split into two-man teams (with Yang going off on her own) to expedite the process.

This was how one Ruby Rose found herself in a park in Vale's residential district, taking a break with her partner, Weiss. They had been scouring the residential district for the past four hours and both girls were fairly exhausted. They had even gone so far as to use their Semblances but that only succeeded in tiring them out even further. They still had time to check a couple more streets before they'd have to head back to the airship port to meet up with the others but Ruby had another idea in mind.

There had been a couple of occasions where Ruby had the chance to speak privately with her partner but the simple fact of the matter was that she had no idea where to begin. Weiss had been quiet and distant the entire day, only putting enough effort in so she wouldn't fall behind, and anything she _did_ say was done in as few words as possible. Now, however, was different. Weiss no longer looked closed off, she just seemed distracted and sitting as she was on the bench, bathed in the soft light of the setting sun, Ruby felt a hitherto unknown courage well up inside her.

"Hey, Weiss, are you okay?" Ruby asked gently.

"Of course. I'm perfectly fine," Weiss replied as she tried to close herself off again. Ruby, however, was having none of that and gave her partner a flat, knowing look until Weiss caved and sighed irritably. "Well, maybe not perfectly but I _am_ fine."

"But you've been really quiet all day and it's like you're not even trying to find Blake."

"I apologize if my recent behavior offended you. I've just had a lot on my mind today and have been doing a lot of thinking."

"About what?"

"About—" Weiss made a pained expression as she warred with herself for a moment, "About Blake."

"Because she hid that she was a Faunus from us?"

"A little, maybe, but it's the other thing that bothers me more."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really but you'll pester me until I do, won't you?"

"Yep!"

"You remember what I told her last night? About my upbringing? It's just that… the White Fang has always been like a boogeyman to me. A monster in my closet waiting to get me as I sleep. Except mine was real. There really were people out there who wanted me dead and no amount of night lights would stop them. Learning that a teammate, someone who's lived with me for months now, is one of them is just… I don't know how I should feel about that."

"I don't think Blake would hurt you, Weiss."

"I don't _want_ to think that but… I'm not so certain."

It seemed as if Weiss had said her peace but, in a rare moment of insight, Ruby could tell that her partner was still holding back. "There's something else bothering you," she said.

Weiss opened and closed her mouth a few times before sighing deeply, her shoulders slumping slightly as she fell out of her usual almost regal pose. "What's bothering me is that I don't understand _why_ it's bothering me. So a member of my team is also a member of the White Fang. So what? I should be glad. I can out another member of that group, the authorities can probably get more information on the White Fang out of her, and I get elevated in the eyes of my father. If we managed to find Blake, everything works out in my favor and yet… a part of me doesn't _want_ to find Blake. A part of me hopes that, if she really is working with the White Fang, that she just vanishes from my life completely so that way I don't _have_ to bring her in."

"You're worried about her."

"I know I am but I shouldn't be. All my life, I was taught that I had to place myself and my own goals first in order to be strong. The people around me exist only to be used to further myself because, in the end, that's the only thing in this world that matters. I should be able to just hunt her down and turn her in. It's what Father would say I should do."

"Then why can't you?"

"Because… Because… I just can't. She's— Blake's my teammate and I've been working with her for months now and I just can't. She's— I can't— It's just—" Weiss clenched her eyes shut even as she squeezed the hem of her skirt so hard her knuckles turned white. Every muscle in her body was visibly tense, almost to the point of making her shake, as she tried to fight through the confusing hurricane of emotions she was currently feeling. Concerned, Ruby tentatively reached out to place a hand on her friend's back but stopped when Weiss suddenly spoke.

"She's my friend, Ruby," Weiss said in a small voice as tears started to fall from her eyes. "She's my friend and I can't hurt her any more than I already have. Because I was so stupid and shortsighted, I hurt Blake and made her run away and wander a foreign city completely alone. If I find her, I don't know what I'll say. I might just lash out without thinking and hurt her more. I don't want to do that but I don't want things to stay as they are now. What could I possibly say to her to make things better?"

"You could say 'I'm sorry.'"

"It's not that simple, Ruby."

"It might be. How hard this is is up to you and her. Sometimes, two little words are all it takes."

Weiss fell silent as she stared down at her lap, her breathing ragged as she tried to stop her tears. Seeing the partner that she so admired in such duress made Ruby's heart ache with sympathy so she did the first thing that came to mind. Without any hesitation, Ruby reached out and enveloped Weiss in a hug.

"It's okay to be worried about your friends, Weiss. It doesn't make you weak, it just shows that you care about them," Ruby said gently as she felt Weiss stiffen in her arms. A second passed with Weiss completely motionless and Ruby was just starting to wonder if she had made a mistake when the other girl suddenly relaxed and returned the hug was near bone-crushing force. Ruby held Weiss and gently stroked her hair as her partner's tears of frustration finally fell freely.

Ruby didn't know how long they sat like that but she didn't care. Eventually, Weiss finally calmed down and gently pushed herself away from her partner. She sniffed and wiped at her puffy eyes before smiling at Ruby and giving her a playful shove.

"You force me to talk to you, make me cry, and then have the gall to hold me. You're such a manipulative dolt," Weiss said, the fondness of her voice taking the sting out of her words.

Ruby smiled back, "Well, at least I was the only one around to see it."

"I'd say that's bad enough on its own. Anyway, we've wasted enough time here. We should head back to the port," Weiss said as she got up and started to walk away. Ruby smiled at her partner for a moment before following her, glad to see that the weight that had been on her all day was gone.

OoOoOoO

Sunday morning came to find Shirou and Blake sitting in the former's apartment, a shogi board laid out on the table between them as the news played in the background. Saturday had been spent simply enough with the two mostly keeping to themselves with their reading and occasionally making small talk but that night had been a bit more interesting. Blake adamantly refused to go to sleep wearing Shirou's clothing again so a trip to the store was required. While they were out, Shirou just so happened to spy a shogi set and decided to purchase it on a whim. While he wasn't much for board games— or anything that didn't relate to cooking or achieving his goal— his father had a passion for the game and had practically forced Shirou to play against him countless times. The nostalgic feeling the game gave him aside, Shirou also figured that having some other form of entertainment for Blake would be good and, given her personality, he figured that she would enjoy it. While Blake had never played shogi before, she was willing to try it out. After that, the remainder of the night had been spent with Shirou teaching her the rules of the game and now, after breakfast, they were finally having their first real game.

Despite Shirou's years of experience, the game was relatively evenly matched. While Shirou had never been as good as Kiritsugu, he had been fairly good at the game but the fact that he hadn't touched it since Kiritsugu's death left him more than a little rusty. On Blake's end, while she had never played shogi before, she certainly possessed the mindset and base skills needed to be good at it and was picking up on some of the game's subtleties quickly. As such, Shirou was still in a position to win but Blake had been making it a decent challenge.

As the game went on, Shirou's Scroll droned in the background, today's weather forecast currently being displayed. It had been turned on largely to have some background noise during breakfast but it finally caught Shirou's attention when the news came on.

"Our top story today: A Faunus man was shot to death by police in Vale's industrial district late last night. Sources say that Emeric Marcel, who worked as an Assistant Manager for Valian Power Ltd., was on his way to a nearby twenty-four-hour cafe while pulling an all-nighter when police approached him." Wary of his current company, Shirou reached for the Scroll to turn it off only to be surprised when Blake stopped him.

"I appreciate the sentiment but I can't ignore these things just because they're uncomfortable. Vale may be the most progressive kingdom on Remnant in terms of Faunus rights but that doesn't mean I can turn a blind eye to things like this," she said, her tone deathly serious. Shirou nodded and turned the volume up a little.

"—and was shot nine times while attempting to surrender," the reporter said. "When asked for comment, Vale's Chief of Police, Sheldon Flash, said that the officers' conduct was well within the code but that they would be placed on the standard one-month probation while her psychiatric profile is evaluated."

Shirou scowled at the screen while Blake looked despondent. What remained of Shirou's ideals cried out at such a grave injustice but he ruthlessly quelled that voice before giving Blake a concerned look. Without her bow on, it was easy to read her emotional state from the way her cat ears drooped so low as to nearly be flush with her scalp. When Blake noticed his look, she spoke in a not-quite-monotone. "Honestly, that's far from the worst thing to happen to one of my people in recent years."

Despite this line of conversation making them both uncomfortable, it was something that Shirou knew he couldn't look away from. "I have to admit that I'm regrettably in the dark about that. My knowledge of any specific events ends after the Faunus Rights Revolution. I don't even know what caused the White Fang to form."

"That's not surprising," Blake said with a sigh. "It's not your fault, either. Most history books rarely mention us after that. The White Fang was started by my parents nearly forty years ago to try and combat the oppression that was still going on. There wasn't any big event that started it; my parents and a few of their friends simply got a big idea in their heads and got to work. Like I said before, it started out as a peaceful organization that staged rallies, protests, and boycotts to try and change things. While it wasn't without its success, most companies and governments opted to ignore us completely with some even trying to vilify us."

"If they were supposed to be a peaceful organization then why that name?" Shirou asked as Blake paused to take a drink. "'White Fang' isn't really something that sounds peaceful to me."

"A lot of animals have fangs, Shirou, even Humans. That doesn't make them evil, though. It's something they're born with, something that's a part of them, something they can't change. A fang is only dangerous when it's used to fight just as we're only dangerous if we're forced to be; the same as anyone else. The color was chosen because of what it represents."

"I suppose that makes—"

"It was also Dad's idea. The others pointed out the problem with it but he was _very_ insistent."

"I see."

"Anyway, things started to go downhill about five years ago. More and more of the White Fang were turning to more violent solutions and the younger members weren't very respectful of my dad, saying that he was too old and too afraid of the Humans to do what needed to be done. Seeing this, my dad decided to step down as the leader and had his student take his place."

"I didn't know that Sienna Khan was a student of your father's."

"Most people don't, even inside the White Fang. It wasn't really a secret but it also wasn't something that was obvious or openly talked about. Dad hoped that Sienna would follow his example and carry on the spirit of the White Fang as the founders intended and that her being younger would make the newer members settle down. What he _didn't_ expect was for Sienna to betray him and start actively militarizing the White Fang. After that betrayal, my parents left the White Fang and exiled themselves to Menagerie."

"What made you decide to stay?"

"I… agreed with Sienna and the others. Like I said, answering bigotry with violence was actually working. Aside from that, there was… another member that I was… in a relationship with. I wanted to stay by his side and make a world for the Faunus with him."

"What finally made you leave?"

"A number of things. The biggest was when a mission took me through a small town near the edge of Vale's territory. In our efforts to weaken Vale and get them to pay attention to us, we ended up cutting their supply lines. Their supplies were running low, they weren't set up enough to be self-sufficient, and it would take too long for them to get support from the nearest settlement. Everyone there had given up. The entire place was filled with death. Even though no one had physically died yet, the death I could feel there was so heavy that it felt like a curse. A curse aimed at the world, at all those who remained living. That village was a place of walking corpses and, by now, they all should be dead in body as well.

"After that, I started to actually think about things. About the ramifications of our actions. About all of the pain and suffering we were causing to perfectly good, innocent people. Once that village that still haunts my dreams forced open my eyes, I couldn't stop seeing it. I couldn't stop seeing it and I couldn't handle seeing it so I decided to leave. The next chance I got, I abandoned the White Fang and made my way to the City of Vale. You know or can guess the rest."

Shirou sat in silence for a long while, his tea forgotten between his hands. It took all of his willpower to not react too severely to Blake's description of that village but he knew that hiding everything would be impossible. An area smothered by the curse of death, a place filled with the curses of those who are doomed to die, those are places that Emiya Shirou knows all too well and he can likewise understand how seeing such a place can change someone.

When presented with all of this information, with this history of the White Fang that likely very few people, and even fewer Humans, knew, there was but one statement Shirou could make.

"Tell me about the Faunus. Tell me what Humans don't know that we should."

OoOoOoO

Ruby, Yang, and Weiss were walking down a randomly chosen street, calling out for their wayward teammate. Sunday had come and gone without any word from Blake or Shirou and it had taken all of Weiss' powers of persuasion to convince Ruby and Yang to attend at least half their classes on Monday. They had a free period after lunch which gave them an hour-and-a-half to try and hunt down Blake before classes resumed. Of course, Ruby and Yang had no intention of returning if they failed and Weiss had to admit that she'd probably end up staying with them.

At least she had managed to convince Team JNPR to not skip their classes too.

Still, after two whole days of fruitless searches, the remainder of Team RWBY was starting to feel more than a little discouraged. It felt like they had covered every inch of Vale yet there wasn't even a single hint of the possibility of a clue to be found anywhere.

"Man, we've looked everywhere!" Ruby said with a sigh.

"I'm starting to get a little worried," Yang added. "I know we've got that app and she can take care of herself and she's probably with Shirou and all that but still."

"If Blake doesn't turn up by tomorrow, I suggest we tell the professors," Weiss said.

"I don't think Blake would like that. Besides, what do we tell them? That Blake told us she was a Faunus and member of the White Fang and then ran away?" Yang asked.

"Of course not! We tell them that Blake and I had an argument Friday night and we haven't seen her since. If we don't tell them, they're likely to ask us where she is anyway."

"I dunno, Weiss. I think that Blake wouldn't like that very much."

"I think that telling them will be our best course of action. Even if Blake doesn't like it, better that than her getting hurt."

"And I think Weiss' hair looks _wonderful_ today!" Penny said from behind Weiss, having somehow snuck up on the group. The three of them screamed and nearly jumped out of their skins before turning on the newcomer.

"Penny! Where did you come from‽" Ruby asked as she tried to keep her heart from jumping out of her chest.

Penny smiled in blissful ignorance. "Hey, guys! What are you up to?"

"We're looking for our friend Blake," Yang said bluntly as Ruby tried to decide how much to tell.

"Ooooh, you mean the Faunus girl!" Penny said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Ruby asked.

"Uhh, the cat ears?" Penny said as she pointed to her head.

Yang chuckled, "What cat ears? She wears a... boooohhh..."

"She does like tuna a lot..." Ruby noted in a whisper.

"Wait a minute, that doesn't answer anything! She was wearing a bow! How do you know she has cat ears?" Weiss asked.

"You mean you didn't see her bow twitch and move on its own? It seemed like the obvious conclusion."

Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all stood in dumb silence at this revelation. All of that time around her and they didn't notice a thing. What did that say about their observational skills when a total stranger could see Blake for all of five seconds and piece together what she was?

"So, where is she?" Penny asked.

"We don't know," Ruby said dejectedly. "She's been missing since Friday."

Penny gasped, "That's terrible! Well, don't you worry, Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!"

Ruby did her best to keep smiling even as the strange girl got uncomfortably close, "Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny, but we're okay! Really! Right, guys?" Ruby looked back to where Yang and Weiss were only to see empty air, her teammates nowhere to be found.

"Some friends you are."

OoOoOoO

"Thanks anyways!" Yang said cheerfully to a shopkeeper they had just talked to as she left the shop. Once outside, she dropped her cheerful facade and sighed deeply. "This is hopeless. Seven people looking everywhere for two whole days couldn't find her. What makes me think that we'll have any luck today when there's only three of us?"

"Are you okay, Yang?" Weiss asked somewhat awkwardly. Seeing Yang look depressed was new and trying to cheer someone up was absolutely not a thing she'd ever tried to do before. Where was Ruby when she needed her? She was good at these things.

"Not really. Penny just got me thinking, is all. I've known Blake for a bit over two months now but I don't really know anything about her. I didn't even notice that she was a Faunus and then along comes someone who's seen her for all of five seconds and she noticed it right away."

"To be fair, none of us noticed it and we honestly don't know that much about each other. I don't even know where you all are from."

"Yeah, maybe, but it just feels wrong. She seems closer to Shirou than to any of us and that's fine but we're supposed to be partners. Partners are supposed to stick together through anything, right?"

Weiss bit her bottom lip as she carefully chose her words. This was farther outside her comfort zone than talking to Ruby had been but it was clear that Yang needed someone to talk to so she would provide just that. Ruby had set an example and now it was up to her to follow her leader. "I… think… you're right. Partners _should_ stick together. But we don't really know each other and… bonds like that… take time to form. I'm certain that she'll come around once she gets to know you more."

"That's just the thing: I never gave her the chance. I never gave _you_ the chance, either! I just make bad puns and punch things! It's no wonder that she'd just run away when something bad happened!"

"Yang, we've only known each other for two months. Getting to know someone in such a short period of time is difficult."

"No, it's not! I didn't even _try_ to get to know her! Just look at you and Ruby! You two have spent a lot of time studying together and working together and I've seen you two just talking about whatever sometimes! Look at Jaune and Pyrrha! Look at Ren and Nora! Hell, look at Blake and Shirou! They spent a _lot_ of time together this past week! It's no wonder she willingly ran away with Shirou but wouldn't even try to talk to her partner! Why should she when I've practically gone out of my way to _avoid_ talking to her!"

"Yang… I'm really not the right person to be talking about this. I study with Ruby, sure, and we've talked about a few things but I don't really know much about her and she knows even less about me. That aside, I'm really not the best partner, either. Do you remember during our first week when I got really angry? I was angry at Ruby because I was projecting my flaws as a partner onto her. I didn't understand the first thing about what it meant to be someone's partner and I'm only learning. But I was given some good advice and I think you could use it, too."

"Oh, yeah? What was it?"

"We can learn a lot from each other. I still don't really understand what it takes to be a good partner and maybe you don't quite know either but we can learn a lot from each other and, if we work together, maybe we can figure out how to do that."

Yang smiled genuinely for the first time in a while as she slightly chuckled, "You know, Weiss, I think you're a lot better at this team thing than you think you are. But maybe you're right. Maybe we _can_ figure this whole mess out together. You and me. You and Ruby. Me and Blake."

"Of course we can. But we need to find Blake before we can do that."

"You're right! Well then, let's get going! I'm pretty sure there are some shops near the residential district that we didn't hit up."

As Yang picked up the pace and walked with more of her usual attitude, Weiss couldn't help but smile slightly as she went back over her words. Maybe she _could_ actually learn from her team. Maybe, with their help, she wouldn't have to be a failure forever.

But if she got stronger by relying on others, what would her father say?

OoOoOoO

As night started to fall, Blake and Shirou waited patiently on a roof across from Dock 113, Blake wearing her hunter's attire while Shirou wore a dark gray, long-sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans. They had been there for a few hours now and Shirou was thankful for all of the patience training his father had put him through. Between that and his magecraft training, sitting in one place doing absolutely nothing for several hours didn't drive him insane. How Blake possessed such skills, Shirou didn't know and he wasn't entirely certain that he wanted to know.

They sat in silence, munching on protein bars Shirou had made earlier (Blake had suggested buying some but Shirou would have none of that and let her know his reason why in a strongly worded, highly detailed lecture) when something finally happened. The wind picked up and bright lights flooded the area as a Bullhead aerial vehicle touched down in the center of the cargo containers. A ramp opened up from the back to reveal what looked to be a young adult wearing a black hooded jacket and a fanged mask.

"Oh, no…." Blake said softly from her place beside Shirou.

"I take it that's them?" Shirou asked. As if to answer his question, the hooded figure turned around and revealed the blood red wolf on their back.

"Yes. It's _them_."

As the figure started shouting orders, Shirou shifted his focus to Blake. "You wished they weren't the ones behind it," he observed.

"I didn't but I knew they had to be. Even after everything, it just hurts to see the truth. Especially now," Blake said as she closed her eyes in sorrow. The movement of her bow indicated that her ears were drooping.

"Hey! What's the holdup‽" Blake's eyes snapped open as she heard a voice that absolutely didn't belong there. She and Shirou looked down at the docks to see none other than Roman Torchwick standing there like he owned the place. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"

"This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a Human. Especially not one like that," Blake said as she began to rise.

"Don't you remember what I said the other day?" Shirou said, making Blake pause. "Given his knowledge and connections, it makes sense for the White Fang to use him to complete their goals."

Blake growled before crouching down, "You're right. What do you suggest we do?"

"Regardless of anything else, the fact of the matter is that they're stealing large quantities of Dust and need to be stopped. Getting the police involved would take too long so we'll have to stop them ourselves."

"There are a number of people isolated enough from the others that they can be taken out without being seen. With my Semblance, I can easily move from cover-to-cover and take them out," Blake observed.

Shirou nodded, "Sounds as good a plan as any. While it's not my specialty, I'm decent enough at stealth that I should be able to take down a few. I can also snipe a few of them from up here."

"I'll take the ones nearest us while you handle the ones farthest away."

"Are you ready?" In response, Blake readied Gambol Shroud, keeping the blade safely inside its sheath, and dropped off the roof as Shirou readied his bow.

Blake stayed in a low crouch as she carefully made her way around the containers and removed her bow to give herself full access to her enhanced hearing. She was thankful that her particular animal traits gave that to her but she also had to be wary as there was no telling if any of the members of the White Fang that were present also possessed enhanced hearing. Regardless, sneaking past them was kitten's play. Using her power of Shadow, Blake could move in an instant to any spot of her choosing within five meters while leaving behind a doppelganger that would vanish either at will or when struck. As if that weren't enough of an advantage, she let her mind slip back into her mother's many lessons and let her body move as silent as a wraith. Even if a Faunus with enhanced hearing were to stand directly in front of her, they wouldn't hear a thing.

Blake closed in on her first target who was crouched down to examine one of the latches on a container. Unprepared as he was, he had no defenses in place for when Blake slammed the sheathed Gambol Shroud into the side of his head, knocking his mask askew and him to the ground. Moving quickly, Blake swiped one of his hands away with Gambol Shroud before slamming his head into the ground. She pulled him back up by his hair and brushed aside his cracked mask before striking the bridge of his nose with the butt of her weapon and tossing him beside the container. He groaned quietly but didn't move.

Moving on, Blake selected her next target and pressed herself beside the edge of a container. She whistled quietly a few times, ever so slightly raising the volume each time, until the White Fang member noticed and started walking her way. Blake counted other woman's footsteps and waited until she was in the perfect position before lashing out. Like a flash of dark lightning, Blake rose and rounded the corner, one hand brushing the other woman's mask aside and covering her mouth while the base of the palm of the other hand struck her gut just below the sternum to force the air from her lungs. Using a combination leg sweep and shoulder throw, Blake then threw her behind the container and onto her back before dropping down on her, her knee hitting square on her solar plexus.

Blake's next two targets were tricky. Two White Fang men were standing a fair ways from the rest and well out of sight, complaining about having to work with a Human. She stayed hidden and listened in interest once one of them mentioned _that man_. It seemed that _he_ had essentially been bought out by some Human woman. Blake filed that information away for later and got to work once the conversation shifted and the kissing started.

Blake waited for them to part before moving in. She struck one of them in the back of the head with Gambol Shroud, forcing him to headbutt his lover in the nose. Before the other could scream in pain, Blake elbowed him in the mouth to shut him up and then kneed the first in the groin. As he doubled over in pain, Blake kicked at the back of his knees to bring him down before flashing behind the second and sending a snap kick into the back of his head to send him falling forward. Blake flashed back over to beside them and brought up Gambol Shroud in both hands. When their heads were aligned, Blake swung down with all of her might, cracking the second in the back of the head to force him to headbutt the first and then forcing them both to hit the ground.

While Blake started her assault, Shirou let the hammer in his head fall and changed himself from a Human to a Magus. Simple reinforcement was all that was required to give him near-perfect vision despite the low levels of light and a quick bit of alteration was all it took to round out his arrowheads to make them less lethal. With practiced ease, Shirou loosed arrow after arrow, each one striking true and rendering another member of the White Fang unconscious. Shirou drew his focus to two goons standing off to the side and was about to take them out when Blake appeared and dispatched them with brutal efficiency. He had always thought Blake to be of average skill in combat at best given his observations at Beacon but it seemed that her forte lie not in head-on combat. He tucked that observation away for later and selected another target.

Even though only a few had been taken out, the others were already starting to get suspicious. After all, when the operation consisted of less than twenty men, the absence of even a few was noticeable. This gave Shirou and Blake the chance to take down a couple more but the others quickly caught on and went on high alert. The White Fang members spread out in groups of three, leaving Roman alone in the center. Seeing an opening, Blake charged forward from her hiding place even as Shirou cursed and loosed an arrow.

Roman pivoted to the side and effortlessly parried Blake's attack before bringing the open end of his cane up to her face even as Shirou's arrow stopped in midair for no apparent reason. "Nighty night, Kitty," Roman quipped and that gave Blake just enough time to dodge. There was a flash of light from the end of the cane followed by a large explosion, the dust cloud it kicked up obscuring everything from sight. Shirou cursed again and jumped off of the roof, his bow transforming into a sword as he charged into battle.

Blake rolled to a stop as she fought to keep herself from coughing. Another red light appeared in the dust cloud and Blake quickly threw herself to the side to avoid another one of Roman's Dust-infused flares, the projectile flying past her to destroy one of the cargo containers. With the remaining members of the White Fang now closing in on her, Blake decided to cut her losses and beat a hasty retreat behind one of the intact containers.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…." Roman taunted as he slowly advanced on Blake's position, motioning with his head for the White Fang to flank her. Before he could get too far, however, he was forced to roll forward in order to just barely avoid being hit by Shirou's sword.

"Give up!" Shirou said as he readied his weapon. "Most of your men have already been dealt with and my friend can handle the rest! Surrender now and no one else will have to get hurt!"

Much to Shirou's dismay, Roman chuckled, "You really think I only came here with thirteen guys? You're not that bright, are you?" As if on cue, the wind picked up again as two more Bullheads made themselves known. Their hatches opened and more White Fang members jumped from them to quickly surround Shirou.

Shirou altered his stance and quickly took stock of his enemies, his mind already running through dozens of plans and scenarios. When several of them charged at once, Shirou became a blur of movement as he got to work. He redirected a punch from one of them and simultaneously lashed out with his rear foot to catch another in the chest while blocking a slash from behind with his sword. He then pulled the first one forward as he pushed the third one's sword away before cracking the first over the head with the butt of his sword and immediately flipping backward to make the third strike the first. Shirou brought his sword down on the man's shoulder to force him to drop his weapon before pulling him to the side to use as a living shield as two other goons opened fire. Shirou then kicked his shield in the small of his back toward the two firing before lashing out with a sweeping kick and rising slash to take out the guy coming from behind.

Just as Shirou was about to charge the two gunners, Blake suddenly appeared above them and dropped onto them, Gambol Shroud fully drawn so she could slash down the back of one while striking the main shoulder of the other. A quick strike to the side of the head to the first followed by a spinning sword slash to the base of the neck of the second was enough to break their Auras and put them out of the fight.

The instant Blake appeared, Shirou turned his attention back to Roman only to see a flare headed straight for him. Even if he had time to dodge, that would put Blake directly in its path and he certainly didn't have enough time for a projection so Shirou was left with no other choice but to slash the blast out of the air. The instant his blade pierced the shell, it exploded in a blinding flash of light and smoke that got Blake's attention.

"He's mine!" Blake all but growled as she rushed past the stunned Shirou. She came at Roman with a blindingly fast series of strikes, the blade of Gambol Shroud little more than a black-and-red blur she practically danced around the man, her Semblance leaving behind numerous shadow clones as she both avoided counterattacks and struck from different angles. However, no matter how ferociously she attacked, no matter how fast her swings, no matter what angle she approached from, Roman always had an answer and didn't even seem to be putting up that much effort. To make matters worse, Roman was actually landing hits on her despite what should have been a massive speed advantage.

Roman finally managed to connect a full hit and send Blake stumbling away but was forced back on the defensive as Shirou charged in. While Shirou lacked Blake's raw speed only had one weapon, the difference in their skill was obvious as Roman started to show signs of effort and was even forced to give ground. Shirou's black blade whirled he shattered Roman's guard, the finely dressed criminal stunned for the precious moment it took for Blake rush in like a whirlwind to strike him across the chest with both parts of Gambol Shroud at once. Roman was sent flying backward from the impact but he quickly rolled with his landing and splayed his legs out, his feet and fingertips sliding across the concrete to slow him down even as his cane snapped up and fired at some point above Shirou and Blake's heads. The two looked up just in time to see the flare collide with the hook of a crane holding up a shipping container before barely moving out of the way in time to avoid being flattened by it; Blake dodging backward towards the remaining White Fang members while Shirou rolled forward.

Shirou came out of his roll only to see the end of Roman's cane pointed right in his face but he was spared from having to experience a point-blank explosion when a shot rang out and Roman's cane was knocked away.

OoOoOoO

Ruby sighed as she put away her Scroll. She was already out way later than they had planned but even that extra bit of effort had proved fruitless. Even the extra pair of eyes that Penny provided wasn't enough. While she hated the idea of giving up, she was starting to think that Weiss had the right idea and that they needed to tell the professors in the morning.

Just as Ruby was about to go back, an explosion from the docks caught her attention. As black smoke drifted in the sky, she thought back to her encounter with Roman all those months ago.

"Oh, no…." Ruby said quietly before signaling for her jet locker and taking off at top speed, a trail of rose petals in her wake. She shot down the deserted streets and back alleys, thankful that the past few days of searching had practically seared the map of Vale into her head, before skidding to a halt at a precise point behind one of the buildings overlooking the docks. Nearly the instant she stopped, her locker crashed into the ground not two meters away from her. She had Crescent Rose out in a flash and scaled the building in a single leap, reaching the far edge not a heartbeat later. She looked down at the scene and saw Roman hovering over Shirou, the business end of his cane pointed right in her friend's face.

Without hesitation, almost without even aiming, Ruby brought up Crescent Rose and fired, the shot hitting the end of Roman's cane and knocking it away.

"Hey!" Ruby called out as she twirled Crescent Rose and readied it in its scythe form.

Roman looked up at her in surprised recognition. "Well, hello, Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?" he said condescendingly as he took his attention fully off of Shirou. Not one to miss an opening, Shirou immediately lashed out with his sword which Roman quickly backpedaled to dodge.

"Ruby, are these people your friends?" Penny said from behind Ruby. Shocked, Ruby turned to look at her.

"Penny, get back!"

Also not one to miss an opening, Roman quickly took aim and fired at Ruby with a snarl before returning his attention to Shirou. Up on the rooftop, Ruby's eyes suddenly widened as her instincts screamed at her. She quickly spun around an lashed out with Crescent Rose only to have to brace the weapon with her right hand as the sudden explosion made her slide backward.

Ruby growled as she glared at Roman. "Stay here, Penny! It's too dangerous for you!"

"But wait, Ruby, I'm—" Ruby didn't hear whatever else Penny was about to say as she hurled herself from the roof and dove straight for Roman. Roman sidestepped to avoid Ruby's charge and then brought his cane up to block Shirou's attack. Ruby rolled and slid to a stop before rushing forward in another burst of speed. With a growl, Roman pushed Shirou away and flipped over Ruby's swing but that left him totally helpless as Shirou shoulder checked him once he hit the ground and followed up by slamming the hilt of his sword underneath his jaw and finishing with a rising slash that knocked him away.

Seeing the opening, Ruby rushed forward again and hooked Crescent Rose's blade around Roman, using him as a fulcrum to circle him, the blade sparking as it cut into his Aura, before firing off a shot that made Roman crash to the ground with a yelp. Shirou immediately followed up with a jumping downward stab aimed at Roman's side but the criminal managed to roll away in time to avoid it before springing to his feet.

"I know you like to see me get my ass kicked but a little help would be appreciated, Neo!" Roman called out to seemingly no one. Ruby and Shirou readied their weapons to attack again but Ruby was forced to change her plans when Shirou got blasted away by thin air. The air shimmered and shattered to reveal a short girl of indeterminate age. Her hair was half-brown, half-pink with the pink side having a shock of white and her eyes were heterochromatic; one being pink and the other brown. She was also even more finely dressed than Roman with a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, black gloves, and black and white knee-length boots with very high heels. She even wore a brown corset under her jacket that left a small portion of her hips exposed and numerous necklaces. To top it all off, she was also carrying a light umbrella which, judging from the way it was extended in the direction Shirou had been sent flying, she used as a weapon.

"Two versus two. A bit more fair, then," Ruby commented idly as she drummed her fingers on Crescent Rose's shaft. She wanted to check on Shirou but taking her eyes off of the threat before her would be a really bad idea. Roman chuckled and dusted himself off before bringing his cane up to bear while Neo flourished her umbrella and smirked. Ruby was just starting to contemplate her options when an arrow whizzed by her ear. Neo thrust out and opened her umbrella to stop the projectile only to get blown back when it exploded on impact. Shirou quickly came charging back, his weapon turning back into a sword, and Ruby immediately followed suit.

Ruby and Neo clashed while Shirou and Roman resumed their duel. Crescent Rose was a blur of motion as Ruby spun it around and slashed at Neo from various angles but her opponent was far too agile and skilled, ducking and dodging under the strikes that she could while almost casually redirecting those she couldn't with her umbrella. Not even her scythe's deceptive range or the fact that its curved blade let her strike from odd angles were helping. Then Neo started to press the attack and Ruby found herself powerless. No matter how she changed up her attacks, Neo was finding all of the holes in her defenses and was constantly striking at them. Eventually, the damage built up and Ruby's energy wavered enough for a more decisive blow to be dealt. Neo brushed away a sloppy overhead strike before countering with a deep thrust to Ruby's exposed chest, the umbrella bursting open as the attack landed to send Ruby flying away.

Over with Shirou, he was finding Roman to still be a tough opponent even after the sustained damage. While far from the most difficult fight he'd ever been in, he found his current skills with this weapon to be insufficient. While he _might_ be able to defeat Roman at this rate, the effort would exhaust him and the odds were against him even without factoring in Neo. Still, he continued on with the duel and contemplated his options while also keeping tabs on Neo and Ruby. When he saw Neo go in for a big attack, he disengaged from Roman and went to strike at Neo's open defenses but not only was he too slow to stop the attack, Neo was far more skilled than expected as she fell into a backward somersault to avoid Shirou's attack. Shirou grit his teeth in annoyance and quickly spun around to block Roman's attack only to be defenseless as Neo struck him in the side with her umbrella. This allowed Roman to completely break Shirou's guard and whack him across the face before Neo hit him in the stomach. Shirou doubled over and looked up to see the end of Roman's cane back in his face, the criminal taking just a slight moment to smirk, before Shirou's world exploded.

Ruby rolled to get her feet back underneath her and skidded to a stop in a three-point stance with Crescent Rose held behind her. She looked up just in time to see Shirou get blasted in the face and get sent flying toward her. She tried her best to catch her friend but it was a lost cause as the redhead crashed into her and sent them both tumbling.

"Are you okay, Shirou?" Ruby groaned at as she picked herself up.

"I'm fine. You?" Shirou said as he did the same.

"Never better!" Ruby said tiredly. "Man, these guys are tough. I'm gonna—"

"Ruby," Shirou cut her off as he sheathed his sword and took a couple of steps forward. "I need you to go up high and provide supporting fire."

"But why?" Ruby asked as she looked at her friend as if he had gone insane.

"Because, no offense to you, you'd just get in my way."

Ruby's indignant response was ended before it began as two curved short swords suddenly appeared in his hands. They were twin swords, almost perfectly alike in shape and quality, but it was easy to tell them apart. The one in his left hand was as black a night with a red hexagonal pattern and white triangle going partway down the middle while the one in his right hand was a pure white with a wave pattern and a black triangle. In the center of both where the blade met the hilt was a taijitu that extended past the blade and on to the dark wooden hilt that was wrapped in black cloth. They were undeniably beautiful swords that, to Ruby, seemed to lack any will of their own. She found herself strangely captivated by these swords that appeared as if by magic but she only had a heartbeat to admire them before Shirou surged forward at speeds far greater than he had previously demonstrated.

(A/N: Play "A Stranger I Remain" from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.)

Ruby watched in stunned awe as Shirou fought like a demon, his abilities far greater than any she had seen since coming to Beacon. His strikes were lighting fast and made with pinpoint accuracy and yet his movements contained such a fluid grace that it came off as almost effortless. When Shirou brought up his swords in a cross guard to block one of Roman's flares, the explosion making him skid back slightly, he gave her a sharp look that shook her out of her stupor. Her friend, despite the incredible skill he had been hiding, still needed her help and so her help he would get. Picking a good vantage point, Ruby leaped into the air and transformed Crescent Rose into its gun form before taking aim, waiting for the perfect shot.

Shirou grunted as he pushed forward through the cloud of smoke. The sum total of Archer's experience combined with Shirou's own was enough to level the playing field but only just. Archer had never fought anything quite like what could found on Remnant, after all, so Shirou found himself having to try to make up the difference with his own skills. He also hated having to make such an obvious projection right in front of Ruby but that was a headache he could deal with later. As it stood, Ruby was likely to be seriously injured if he had continued to fight with just his own skill and that was unacceptable.

Shirou parried Neo's attack with Kanshou and broke Roman's guard with Bakuya before lashing out with a roundhouse kick that caught Roman square in the ear and following up with a crescent kick that caught Neo in the jaw. He pressed his advantage and unleashed a combo of slashes on the stunned Roman. Neo came at him from behind with a swipe of her umbrella but Shirou seamlessly transitioned his horizontal slash to a lateral jumping spin to avoid it before bringing both of his blades down on her shoulders. Neo's knees buckled as a shockwave passed through her to kick up the dust on the ground but she managed to stand firm and even trapped Shirou's swords by laying her umbrella across them and grabbing the other end, keeping them firmly pressed against her with a pained smirk.

As Neo did this, Shirou became aware of Roman approaching from behind but his attack was stopped short when a gunshot rang out he staggered backward from the impact. Neo tried to take advantage of Shirou's apparent lapse in attention by kicking him in the groin but Shirou easily brought up his leg to block it before doing the one thing that no warrior in their right mind would do in the middle of combat: He let go of his weapons.

Now weaponless, Shirou disengaged from the stunned Neo and rounded on Roman. He brushed aside the criminal's cane before socking him square in the jaw with a right hook. Neo regained her composure and tried to throw away Shirou's swords but was shocked once again as they faded away only to reappear in the redhead's hands. Neo hastily backpedaled as she blocked Shirou's combo and narrowed her eyes into a glare as she finally found a flaw in his defenses. She took a half-step back and thrust her umbrella forward and was pleased when Shirou didn't parry as her reach was just short of actually hitting him. Then she hit the release and Shirou's guard was shattered as the umbrella snapped open and Shirou's arms were flung to the sides. The umbrella closed as she quickly drew it back and struck Shirou in the gut with a lunging thrust before striking him under the jaw with a rising swipe. She was about to follow up when she abruptly spun around and popped open her umbrella to block a shot from Ruby who growled and changed locations.

As this was happening, Roman recovered and struck the open Shirou in the side with his cane. Shirou coughed out spittle from the blow but pushed past the pain to trap Roman's cane under his arm and elbow him in the face. As Roman staggered backward, Shirou hurled Kanshou at him, the blade a blur of black as it spun, but Roman had enough mobility to dodge out of the way and actually smirked again.

"Bad move, kid," Roman said menacingly as he charged back in. Shirou and Roman resumed their deadly dance from earlier as Shirou tightened his grip on Bakuya and brought his free hand up in a guard stance. While Shirou's fighting style was completely different from before and his physical abilities were similarly increased, Roman was still managing to hold his own now that Shirou only had one sword. When Neo re-entered the fray, it seems that the tables had once again turned against Shirou even with Ruby's occasional shot.

Ruby was wondering just what Shirou had been thinking and was considering going back into melee anyway when she noticed that Shirou was taking great pains to keep Roman with his back toward the water while also keeping himself between the criminal and Neo. She was curious as to what the purpose of that was when she caught sight of something impossible. Shirou's black sword that he had thrown was somehow now hurtling back towards him at a speed far greater than it had been thrown. While the blade had been a blur before, it now looked more like a solid disc. She had no idea how he was doing that but at least now his actions made sense. Unfortunately, Roman seemed to have heard the blade's approach for his eyes widened even as he quickly ducked out of the way. It seemed that Shirou had predicted that, however, as he had taken a long step away from the criminal once his shock was evident and extended his empty hand behind him even as he knocked aside Neo's umbrella. Kanshou's hilt collided perfectly with Shirou's waiting palm in a reverse grip and he brought it down in a powerful slash before kicking Roman under the chin with his back leg. Both of them staggered back and Roman rubbed his jaw while Neo looked in shock where the sword had actually pierced her Aura enough to cut her jacket.

"For fuck's sake, Neo, use your godsdammed Semblance!" Roman snarled before Neo faded from view. Shirou quickly lept towards Roman with a double vertical slash but he had to bit back a curse as Roman and the air around him shattered like glass.

Shirou twirled his swords as he took a couple steps back and got into the best guard stance he could under the circumstances. They could easily take this chance to flee but his instincts told him that he wouldn't be so lucky. His instincts proved to be correct as something struck him in the back of the head. He quickly rolled forward but that proved insufficient as something else clipped his side and turned his roll into a tumble. Shirou quickly got back to his feet and closed his eyes, focusing on his other senses to try and suss out what they were doing. While he could still smell them, the problem with that ability is that it's terrible at tracking moving targets, especially when those targets seemed to be circling him. Still, between it and his other senses, he managed to tell where the next strike was coming from and attempted to parry it. He was partially successful in that it didn't hit his head but the strike still connected with his forearm.

Up in her perch, Ruby growled as she watched Shirou get battered left and right by his invisible opponents. It seemed that he had some vague idea where they were but it was only helping a little bit and it would probably only be a matter of time before Shirou's Aura broke. As Ruby pondered what to do, she was suddenly hit by inspiration and looked down her scope before switching from daylight to thermal. She couldn't help the pleased chuckle that escaped as Roman and Neo were once again clearly in her sights. She took aim, pulled the trigger, and even more pleased with the results.

Back on the ground, Shirou was panting and was beginning to wonder if projecting Hrunting was a good idea when the air suddenly shattered to his right and Roman came staggering into view. While he wasn't entirely sure how Ruby did this, he wasn't about to question it so he lashed out with Bakuya and sliced Roman across the chest before he disappeared again. Shirou just barely had time to get back into his guard when another shot rang out and the air shattered behind him, Neo coming into view this time. On and one this went with Ruby shooting one of them to reveal their position and let Shirou get a hit or two off and Blake, who had just finished dealing with the last of the White Fang, could only look on in awe as it appeared for all the world as if reality was breaking around Shirou.

Eventually, Roman ignored Shirou and aimed at Ruby. "Go to bed, Red!" he shouted as he fired a flare toward her. Ruby instinctually fired at it only to realize her mistake just as the trigger clicked. The bullet collided with the flare in midair causing the flare to explode. Such an intense heat appearing so close to her burned the eye that had been looking through the thermal scope. Ruby jerked her head back and screamed, her right hand covering the injured eye while her good eye clenched shut.

"Ruby!" Shirou cried out, completely distracted and thus unable to defend himself as Neo reappeared and laid into him with a combo. She ended it with another deep thrust to his chest that sent him skidding away painfully on his back.

As Shirou struggled to his feet, Roman, despite his battered and ruffled appearance, actually started laughing as more Bullheads came in and shone their spotlight on them.

"Looks like it's game over, kid!" Roman called out over the noise of the jets. "Maybe you won't fuck with a criminal organization in your next life!"

Time slowed down as Shirou, Ruby, and Blake looked on in fear. One of the Bullheads was revving up its gatling gun and it was aimed straight at Shirou. Even with her Semblance, Blake was too far away to get to him in time while Ruby still too stunned to fully move. Shirou dismissed Kanshou and Bakuya and started raising his right hand. It would be _really_ hard to explain but dying here was absolutely not an option. "Rho—" The choice was taken away from him when a beige blur slammed into his side, knocking him out of the path of the gatling gun.

"P-Penny?" Shirou said, winded and stunned by the impact. Penny smiled down at him before getting up with a look of determination on her face.

"Don't worry, Shirou. I'm combat ready." As Penny stepped forward, her backpack folded open and a large, green blade floated out of it. At first, Shirou watched with mild curiosity as the blade split into six but his jaw quickly hit the floor when information started pouring into his mind thanks to Unlimited Blade Works reproducing it. He had always known that Remnant's technology was a little crazy but to be able to truly create life, to create a gynoid and give it a soul, was technology approaching the level of advanced Thaumaturgy. The ability to basically create a homunculus that, as far as Shirou could tell, was more stable than anything the Einzberns had produced was simply incredible.

Thankfully, Shirou's reaction wasn't strange since Blake and Ruby had similar expressions as they watched Penny's blades fold in on themselves and start rotating in a large, vertical circle in front of her. Penny poured her Aura into the blades as she drew back her fists and everyone watched as a bright, green orb started to manifest in the circle's center. Once her arms were fully drawn back and the orb was nearly the size of the circle, she punched the air and the orb turned into a massive beam of energy that sliced through Bullheads like a hot knife through butter.

Penny looked to her left as one of the first Bullheads started to take to the air with an entire cargo container. She quickly sent two of her remote blades into the nearby building to anchor herself before sending the rest into the Bullhead's side. With noticeable effort, Penny started to pull back on the wires that connected her swords to herself and, much to the shock and awe of everyone, actually started to pull the Bullhead back down. With one last pull and a scream of effort, Penny nearly slammed the aircraft into a large stack of cargo containers causing the aircraft to somehow explode on impact.

As Roman watched from the safety of the last remaining Bullhead that was currently leaving the area as quickly as possible, he could only say one thing: "These kids just keep getting weirder…"

(A/N: End song.)

OoOoOoO

Ruby, Blake (who had reclaimed her bow), Penny, and Shirou were sitting in silence on some boxes. After Penny's display, it took a bit for everyone to recover but, once they had, Ruby practically threw herself at Blake and Shirou. What followed was a hastily constructed explanation from the two of them about what had happened since Friday night and a lot of hugging and relieved crying from Ruby. After Ruby had calmed down, it was Penny's turn to be interrogated by Ruby and Blake while Shirou observed in silence. Penny's explanations were, for the most part, completely true but it was clear to Shirou how Penny was very carefully skirting around the true nature of his existence and he fully understood why even without General Ironwood's orders.

It was shortly after the explanations that the police finally decided to show up. That, naturally, led to the four of them being detained and having to explain everything all over again (although with some personal details left out this time). When everyone's status as students was verified (Penny was registered as a student of Atlas Academy), they were let off with a warning and roundabout congratulations at stopping the largest Dust robbery in recent history.

The four of them had only been sitting down for a few minutes when Weiss and Yang showed up. Shirou watched with idle curiosity as Blake visibly steeled herself while Weiss all but marched up to her.

"Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the—"

"Blake," Weiss said, cutting her off, "I'm sorry. I unknowingly said some hurtful things to you. I want you to know that, no matter what, you're my teammate and my friend. I don't care what you were before, that doesn't change what you are now."

Everyone except Ruby stared in shock at this person claiming to be Weiss. Blake's lower lip started to tremble as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "Weiss, I—"

"Just one thing: Next time something this big comes up, promise you'll come to your teammates and not some…" Weiss stopped to regard Shirou who, in turn, quirked an eyebrow at her. "Okay, going to Shirou isn't that bad of an idea but come to your teammates first!"

Blake looked from Weiss to the smiling Yang and Ruby before wiping her eyes. "Alright. I promise." Weiss smiled and nodded, the mood lingering for a second before Ruby shattered it.

"Yeah! Team RWBY is back together! Group hug!" she shouted before nearly tackling Weiss and Blake. Yang gave a cheer and quickly joined in, ignoring Weiss' protests even as Blake softly chuckled and returned the hug as best as she could.

Off to the side, Shirou watched the scene unfold with a melancholic smile. It was good to see them strengthen their bonds. They would need them if they wanted to survive what was headed their way. And as they grew closer, Shirou would watch them, an outsider from beginning to end.

OoOoOoO

Shirou sat in Professor Ozpin's office at the top of Beacon Tower as the aged headmaster finished playing the footage of the confrontation on the docks. Even if no one aside from the involved had been present to witness the incident, the CCTV certainly caught it.

"I take it this had something to do with why you and Blake were absent today," Ozpin said as he took a sip of his cocoa.

"Yes. Blake had some problems with her teammates and her past so I helped her work through them."

"Her team learned of her status as a Faunus and former member of the White Fang?"

Shirou had to bite back a smart reply. Of course Ozpin knew about all that. "Not exactly. She simply implied it and then panicked."

Ozpin hummed and took another sip of his cocoa, "I take it that her problems are currently under control?"

"For the moment. However, now that she's confirmed that the White Fang are behind all of the Dust robberies and are working with Roman, I fear that she might do something drastic in the future."

"Something like go off the radar for three days and then interfere with the operations of a known terrorist organization with only one person as backup?"

"Point taken."

"Still, you have done fine work so far, Shirou. I'm glad to see that you're still willing to help others out even without a mission."

"Blake is one of Ruby's friends so of course I'd help her," Shirou said defensively.

Ozpin hummed and smirked knowingly. "I see that you were forced to use your Projection magecraft. How did that go?"

"Ruby thought it was the coolest thing ever and Blake was similarly impressed. Yang thought it was cool and Weiss seemed interested. I explained it as being my Semblance which I said was the ability to replicate any simple bladed weapon I see."

Ozpin nodded before looking down at his Scroll when it went off with a message notification. "Well, keep up the good work, Shirou. You're dismissed."

OoOoOoO

Elsewhere, in one of Vale's seediest locations, Roman tiredly trudged into the warehouse that served as his base of operations, a briefcase that contained the sum total of what they managed to successfully steal that night in his hand. He placed the briefcase down on a nearby table and wearily sighed as he cursed Red and that kid who came right out nowhere to kick his ass and that freakily strong girl with those huge-ass laserbeams.

Roman nearly jumped out of his skin when a scarily familiar and wholly unwelcome voice came from the darkness.

"How very disappointing, Roman," a certain black-haired bitch said in a tone that was terrifyingly seductive.

"Whoa! Hehe... I wasn't expecting to see you guys so soon..." Roman said quickly as he turned to face them. Being ever so fond of theatrics as they were, two of the three pests were completely hidden by shadow, only their outlines visible, while the third, the woman who spoke, somehow managed to stand in such a perfect spot that only her long, black hair and piercing yellow eyes were visible.

"We were expecting... more from you," she said, the threat painfully obvious to anyone with half a brain.

"Hey! You were the ones who suggested working with those stupid mutts from the White Fang," Roman quickly fired back. While he honestly had nothing against the Faunus, he also wasn't above throwing them, or anyone, under the bus to save his own skin.

The woman chuckled darkly. "And you will continue to do so," she said before making a fireball appear in her hand as she and her lackeys walked fully into the light. One was a silver-haired man that just saturated the air with smugness while the other was a mint-haired, dark-skinned girl with red eyes who, going by her super serious expression, had a stick shoved so far up her ass that Roman was surprised that it didn't come out of her mouth.

"We have big plans for you, Roman. All we ask is... a little cooperation."

 **Volume 1  
** **Ripples in the Water  
** **END**

* * *

A/N: Told you it was going to be crazy. I'm also pretty sure that a lot of you have been waiting for this moment.

I have a couple of announcements to make. The first is sadly bad news. "Remnants of Fate" is going to be going on an indefinite hiatus. The plan had been for me to finish writing Volume 2 while Volume 1 was being posted (since I had finished Volume 1 before the first chapter went up) but that didn't happen for a lot of reasons. While I _could_ post the few chapters I already have finished and try to just stay a week or two ahead of my uploads, I don't want to do that. While it saddens me that this has to happen, this is the best way I can think of to maintain the quality of the story. Just think of it as the season breaks the show proper has.

That being said, there are going to be two more "chapters" uploaded today. They won't be proper chapters but just extra material. The first will be the Volume 1 Omake Collection for your convenience. The second is something a little special that you'll just have to see for yourself. I hope you enjoy the extra content.

As you saw, Volume 1 as a whole is titled "Ripples in the Water." Every Volume will have a name that reflects or describes the central theme of the volume. In the case of Volume 1, the theme was that the rock known as Emiya Shirou (and some other Nasuverse stuff) was dropped into the pond known as RWBY and we were observing the ripples this caused and seeing what those ripples stirred up.


	11. Volume 1 Omake Collection

**Omake 1**  
The Next Mission  
During V1C1

Shirou and Ozpin sat in the former's apartment in silence, sipping tea as the wall clock ticked on. Shirou had only been back in Vale for an hour before Ozpin had shown up as planned.

"I want you to join my academy," Ozpin finally said after finishing his tea.

"Any reason why?" Shirou asked as he refilled Ozpin's cup.

"A number of them, actually. You have been in Remnant for a few months now and while you have been studiously studying our world ever since you awoke, we feel that you'll be better served by studying in a more scholastic setting."

"You sound like Glynda," Shirou observed cooly before taking a sip of his tea.

"Yes, she was rather insistent upon that matter. Moving on, if you manage to graduate from Beacon, your degree and official Huntsman license will no doubt make your life easier in the future. Your time there might also let you form connections."

"You mentioned something about having my next mission lined up. What is it?"

Ozpin smiled as he sat down his teacup and pulled out his Scroll. "I want you to enroll in Beacon in order to watch over someone of importance," he said as he sent Shirou some files. "You remember the story of the Silver Eyed Warriors, do you not?"

Shirou opened the files on his Scroll and began reading through them. "Yes. An ancient race of people who possessed the power to kill Grimm just by looking at them. I take it this Ruby Rose is one of them?"

"The last one of them, as far as we know. I want you to watch over her and help her in any way you can."

"She's only 15. What's she doing in Beacon?"

"Her physical capabilities far exceed her contemporaries and are on par with the others taking the entrance exam this year. Her scholastic abilities are also exemplary."

"I don't think dragging her away from all of her friends will do her any favors."

"Her older half-sister, Yang Xiao Long, will also be attending this year and there are a few other hopefuls that I'm certain she'll get along with."

"Does this have anything to do with that robbery she thwarted a few days ago?"

"Partially. I had been heavily considering extending an invitation for some time now and that incident simply solidified matters and presented a golden opportunity to ask."

Shirou hummed as he closed the files and locked his Scroll. "You think Salem will make a move against her while she's at Beacon?"

"I don't think Salem knows of her existence and I would like to keep it that way as long as possible. However, given her personality and knack for finding trouble, I doubt she'll remain an unknown for much longer.

"That's where you come in. She will become a target for Salem eventually and you can do your best to prepare her for that. The teachers at Beacon will give her the best education they can but they can't play favorites without raising too many questions and garnering too much scrutiny. You, however, can. You are in a very unique position and have an equally unique skill set. It is my belief that you can prepare her for her future."

Shirou sighed deeply as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I don't like the idea of going back to school but I can't deny what you're saying. Very well. I'll do it."

"Excellent. The initiation ceremony is one week from now. The airship for new students will leave the port at 10:30. Your Huntsman attire will be appropriate and make sure to bring your equipment. Everything else will be provided for you.

"One last thing," Ozpin said as he stood and made his way over to the door before smiling mischievously at Shirou over his shoulder. "Welcome to Beacon."

 **Omake 2**  
A Dark Shadow  
During V1C4

Deep in Vale's warehouse district, in the office of the most out-of-the-way warehouse he could find, sat Roman Torchwick. Being Vale's self-proclaimed greatest crime boss, Roman made sure to always be dressed to the nines and to carrying himself with impeccable style and power. With his red-lined white suit jacket; black pants, shoes, and gloves; small, gray scarf; and red-banded, black bowler hat (his personal favorite), he looked like a man who lived high on the finer things of life. His bright orange hair, the bangs of which were almost always swept over one of his green eyes, used to be a point of contention in his younger days but now his distinctive hair and dress just served to inspire fear and respect.

As Roman kicked his feet up onto his desk and lit a fine cigar with a custom-made lighter, he reflected on just how perfectly everything had been going lately. Sure, that Cinder bitch had been really bossy and working with the White Fang wasn't really a highlight of his career (he honestly didn't give two shits about the Faunus but working with people who looked down on him grinded his gears) but his profit margin was through the roof and he stood to gain even more soon enough. He might even have enough to forego using abandoned warehouses as a base and instead purchase a business to use as a front or even start bribing politicians to make his life a bit easier.

Of course, not all was sunshine and roses. That girl that had thwarted one of his robberies a bit over a week back had been all kinds of annoying and the phone call he just had with his contact in the White Fang could have gone better but it'd all work out. He just had to play his cards right, keep an eye on things, and he'd come out on top no problem.

Right on time, a White Fang courier came into his office with a trolley carrying a large crate. With practiced ease, Roman reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out a stack of Lien before tossing it onto his desk.

"Open it," Roman commanded after the courier took the cash. The courier pulled out a crowbar and popped open the lid of the crate revealing a large cache of Dust crystals of all colors. Roman got up and casually walked around his desk before withdrawing a blue crystal and examining it. As the dim light from the overhead lamp reflected off of the crystal's flawless surface, Roman couldn't help the wicked smile that came to his lips. As he turned to face the map of Vale on the wall and his eyes fell to the large circle marking Beacon Academy, he had but one thing to say:

"We're gonna need more men…"

 **Omake 3**  
What's in a Name  
After V1C5

"Hey, Shirou, do you have a moment?" Ruby Rose asked one day as everyone was on their way to lunch.

"Sure. What do you need?"

"Well, I was just thinking about everyone's weapons and I realized that you never told me the name of yours."

"That's because it doesn't have one."

Ruby looked at Shirou like he had just spouted off one of Nora's insane theories. "What do you mean it doesn't have a name?"

"It just doesn't have one."

"You mean you didn't name it when you were designing it?"

"I didn't design it. It was a gift given to me and its design was based on my abilities."

"Well, did the person who made it give it a name?"

"If they did, they didn't tell me. I honestly couldn't even tell you who made it."

"How could your weapon not have a name?"

"I honestly don't see why this is such a big deal."

To that, Ruby actually scoffed and looked taken aback. "It's the biggest deal! Your weapon reflects who you are! Its name is just as important as your own!"

Ruby's words brought Noble Phantasms to Shirou's mind and how they were an integral part to the identity of a Heroic Spirit. "Maybe," Shirou allowed, "but I still don't see a point in it for me. Crescent Rose being named as it is may be important to you but my bow-sword being nameless suits me just fine."

Ruby looked deeply concerned as she chewed on her bottom lip but continued on before Shirou could say anything else. "Well, what about your Soul Surge? You have a name for that, right? Mine's called Fairy Law."

It was clear that Ruby was almost desperately searching for something but Shirou had no idea what so he plowed onward. "I honestly haven't given that whole concept much thought since I learned about it. I certainly don't have a name for it."

Ruby stared into Shirou's eyes for a long moment, clearly deeply concerned. Feeling uncomfortable, Shirou was about to speak up when Ruby once again beat him to it. "Well, we should go eat. Thanks for telling me, Shirou."

"It's no problem."

 **Omake 4**  
The Way to the Heart  
Before V1C7

"Oh! Ren! Good morning. What are you doing up so early?" Shirou asked as he entered the third-floor kitchen to start breakfast.

"There's something I wanted to ask you. A favor, actually," Ren answered, his body language unusually nervous.

"Anything."

"Do you think… you could… teach me how to cook?" Ren asked, only meeting Shirou's eyes with brief glances.

Shirou was torn between being amused and concerned. Ren was usually so calm and controlled, very rarely showing any emotion outside of amused exasperation at Nora's antics. To see him not only nervous but also blatantly showing it was more than a little odd, to say the least."Sure. What made you interested to learn, if you don't mind my asking."

"Oh, it's… nothing really. I've always been a bit of a decent cook but recently I just… This is honestly rather embarrassing."

"You don't have to tell me."

"No, if I'm going to be inconveniencing you then you deserve to know why. You see, Nora and I have known each other since we were children and we've had only each other to rely on for most of our lives. I used to do all of the cooking, especially breakfast, and she always loved it but since you started cooking, well… She's said that your cooking is the best she's ever had and I just wanted to improve my own cooking skills so that she can enjoy my cooking again."

With his explanation finished, Ren and Shirou stood silently for a moment before the most surprising thing happened:

Shirou laughed.

It wasn't a small chuckle like he had done before but a genuine, full laugh. Ren felt like he should have been insulted but the simple fact that, to his knowledge, Shirou had never laughed before in the time that he's known him despite having heard his team and Team RWBY laugh numerous times gave him pause.

When Shirou's laughter finally calmed down, he smiled brightly at Ren. "Sorry about that. Your situation just brought back some memories. I'm more than happy to help you."

"Thanks, Shirou," Ren said as he stepped up to the counter as Shirou started pulling out ingredients and utensils.

"It's no problem, Ren."


	12. Volume 1 Stat Sheets

**A/N:** My little surprise is this: Stat sheets for all of the major characters! These stats are laid out like they are in the Nasuverse with a couple of minor changes. There are a few things that probably need explaining but I'll explain those in the end note. One thing that's absolutely worth noting is that these stats are inot/i equivalent to a Servant's with the exception of Luck. Just because one person has an Endurance of C doesn't mean that they can take the same amount of punishment as Lancer. The formatting is a bit crap because this site is a bit crap. If you want to see it look good, go on over to the story on Archive of Our Own. My username is the same in both places.

* * *

 **Emiya Shirou:**

 **Affiliation:** Beacon Academy

 **Color:** None

 **Sex:** Male

 **Race:** Human

 **Height/Weight:** 167 cm/58 kg

 **Alignment:** Neutral Good

 **Semblance:**?

 **Strength:** D+

 **Endurance:** D

 **Agility:** C-

 **Prana:** D

 **Aura:** C+

 **Luck:** EX

 **Technique:** D+—C

 **Soul Surge:** ?

 **Noble Phantasm:** ?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Magecraft:** C-

 **Eye of the Mind (True):** D+

 **Clairvoyance:** D

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

 **Noble Phantasm:**

 **Unlimited Blade Works:** ? E-A++

 **Avalon:** Barrier EX

OoOoOoO

 **Ruby Rose:**

 **Affiliation:** Team RWBY

 **Color:** Red

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Human

 **Height/Weight:** 157 cm/53 kg

 **Alignment:** Lawful Good

 **Semblance:** Speed

 **Strength:** D

 **Endurance:** D-

 **Agility:** C-

 **Aura:** D+

 **Luck:** B+

 **Technique:** D-

 **Soul Surge:**?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Instinct:** D-

 **Clairvoyance:** E

 **Soul Surges:** Fairy Law

 **Level 1:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Weiss Schnee:**

 **Affiliation:** Team RWBY, Schnee Dust Company

 **Color:** White

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Human

 **Height/Weight:** 160 cm/50 kg

 **Alignment:** Lawful Good

 **Semblance:** Glyphs

 **Strength:** E

 **Endurance:** E

 **Agility:** D

 **Aura:** C-

 **Luck:** C

 **Technique:** D

 **Soul Surge:**?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Dust Usage:** D-

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Blake Belladonna:**

 **Affiliation:** Team RWBY

 **Color:** Black

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Cat Faunus

 **Height/Weight:** 168 cm/55 kg

 **Alignment:** Chaotic Good

 **Semblance:** Shadow

 **Strength:** E+

 **Endurance:** E+

 **Agility:** C

 **Aura:** D-

 **Luck:** E

 **Technique:** D

 **Soul Surge:**?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Presence Concealment:** D-

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Yang Xiao Long**

 **Affiliation:** Team RWBY

 **Color:** Yellow

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Human

 **Height/Weight:** 173 cm/60 kg

 **Alignment:** Chaotic Good

 **Semblance:** ?

 **Strength:** C

 **Endurance:** C-

 **Agility:** E+

 **Aura:** C-

 **Luck:** E+

 **Technique:** E+

 **Soul Surge:** ?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Battle Continuation:** D-

 **Bravery:** D

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Jaune Arc:**

 **Affiliation:** Team JNPR

 **Color:** White

 **Sex:** Male

 **Race:** Human

 **Height/Weight:** 185 cm/75 kg

 **Alignment:** Lawful Good

 **Semblance:** ?

 **Strength:** E-

 **Endurance:** E-

 **Agility:** E-

 **Aura:** A++

 **Luck:** D

 **Technique:** E-

 **Soul Surge:** ?

 **Noble Phantasm:** ?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Eye of the Mind (Fake):** E-

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

 **Noble Phantasms:**

 **Crocea Mors:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Nora Valkyrie:**

 **Affiliation:** Team JNPR

 **Color:** Pink

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Human

 **Height/Weight:** 155 cm/53 kg

 **Alignment:** Chaotic Good

 **Semblance:** ?

 **Strength:** C-

 **Endurance:** C-

 **Agility:** D-

 **Aura:** D

 **Luck:** B-

 **Technique:** D-

 **Soul Surge:** ?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Riding:** E+

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Pyrrha Nikos:**

 **Affiliation:** Team JNPR

 **Color:** Red

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Human

 **Height/Weight:** 183 cm/73 kg

 **Alignment:** Lawful Good

 **Semblance:** Polarity

 **Strength:** D+

 **Endurance:** D-

 **Agility:** C

 **Aura:** C+

 **Luck:** C+

 **Technique:** C

 **Soul Surge:** ?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Eye of the Mind (True):** C-

 **Clairvoyance:** D-

 **Battle Continuation:** C-

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Lie Ren:**

 **Affiliation:** Team JNPR

 **Color:** Green

 **Sex:** Male

 **Race:** Human

 **Height/Weight:** 175 cm/62 kg

 **Alignment:** Lawful Good

 **Semblance:** Extrasensory Concealment

 **Strength:** D-

 **Endurance:** D-

 **Agility:** C

 **Aura:** C-

 **Luck:** C+

 **Technique:** D+

 **Soul Surge:** D-

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Knowledge of Foremost Harmony:** D+

 **Soul Surges:** Succession Art

 **Level 1:** Spiraling Lotus

* * *

A/N: If you're unfamiliar with what the skills mean, you can find all of them on the Type-Moon wiki. Anything not revealed in the story so far is not listed here. That's why Yang, Jaune, and Nora have question marks for their Semblances despite us knowing what they are from the show. You'll also notice that the name of Ren's Semblance has changed (not that it had a proper name to begin with). Ren's Semblance makes him totally invisible to all forms of supernatural presence detection like Shirou's sense of smell. I would say this is him being buffed but, as far as I know, his Semblance could totally work that way in canon, too, since we haven't seen anything proving otherwise.

All of the stats should be pretty self-explanitory but it should be noted that the Soul Surge stat represents how much the person is empowered when in said state. As a general rule of thumb, people with multihit Soul Surges don't get powered up as much as people with single-hit ones.


	13. Volume 1 Timeline

A/N: There will be a new chapter today. It should be going up at the same time as this. If you don't see it, wait a few minutes and refresh the page.

"CE" stands for "Current Era."

* * *

 **CE 1680** \- After an incident, Mantle imposed laws against self-expression believing that if people controlled their emotions, the Grimm would be less of a threat. Their ally, Mistral, quickly followed but still allowed the center of the kingdom to maintain its cultural identity.

 **CE 1694** \- Due to the pristine conditions of the islands and peninsulas of the east coast of Sanus, Mistral and Vale tried to settle the location at the same time. Despite the best efforts of the King of Vale, the two groups of people clashed at what would be the first battle of the Great War.

 **CE 1695** \- The Great War is waged between Vale and Vacuo, and Mantle and Mistral.

 **CE 1705** \- An end to the Great War is negotiated on Vytal. The Huntsman Academies, Cross Continental Transmit System, color naming tradition, and the Vytal Festival are all created in its aftermath, slavery is abolished and Faunus are given the continent of Menagerie in addition to equal rights as citizens.

 **CE 1711** \- Founding of the Schnee Dust Company by Nicholas Schnee.

 **CE 1719** \- The Kingdom of Mantle ceases to exist and is replaced with the Kingdom of Atlas.

 **CE 1722** \- The Faunus Rights Revolution begins.

 **CE 1725** \- The Battle of Fort Castle occurs.

 **CE 1726** \- The Faunus Rights Revolution ends in a victory for the Faunus.

 **CE 1747** \- Ghira, Kali, and a few others found the White Fang.

 **CE 1748** \- It is discovered that Dust does not function off-planet.

 **CE 1749** \- Jacques Schnee inherits the Schnee Dust Company. Under his leadership, the SDC begins to participate in morally questionable business and labor practices.

 **CE 1751** \- Mountain Glenn, an expansion to the southeast of Vale, is founded.

 **CE 1753** \- Mountain Glenn succumbs to the Grimm after a protracted siege.

 **CE 1763** \- Team STRQ (Summer Rose, Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen, and Qrow Branwen) formed.

 **CE 1767** **October 10, Thursday** \- Emiya Shirou's approximate birth date.

 **CE 1768 March 15, Saturday** \- Yang Xiao Long is born to Taiyang Xiao Long and Raven Branwen.

 **CE 1768 April 1, Tuesday** \- Raven Branwen cuts ties with Team STRQ, only remaining in infrequent contact with her brother, Qrow Branwen.

 **CE 1768 April 15, Tuesday** \- Oniyuri is founded by wealthy elites that were fed up with how Mistral ran things. Among the founders are Lie Ren's parents. The settlement was attacked by a single Grimm before it was finished.

 **CE 1768 May 4, Sunday** \- Weiss Schnee is born to Jacques and Schnee.

 **CE 1768 July 23, Wednesday** \- Blake Belladonna is born to Ghira and Kali Belladonna.

 **CE 1770 May 19, Wednesday** \- Ruby Rose is born to Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose.

 **CE 1774** \- Summer Rose doesn't return home from a mission and is presumed dead. Yang learns Summer was not her biological mother.

 **CE 1775** \- Yang takes Ruby with her on a futile attempt to find clues to the whereabouts of her mother, Raven. They are attacked by Beowolves but are saved by their uncle Qrow.

 **CE 1776** \- The village of Kuroyuri is attacked by the Nuckelavee and Nevermores, which destroy the town and kill nearly everyone, including Ren's parents.

 **CE 1780** \- Sienna Khan takes over the White Fang.

 **CE 1783** \- Sienna commends Adam Taurus on his work for the White Fang and sends him to lead the Vale branch.

 **CE 1783 January** \- Cinder Fall recruits Emerald Sustrai.

 **CE 1783 May** \- Cinder recruits Mercury Black after witnessing him kill his father, the assassin Marcus Black.

 **CE 1784 November** \- Ruby visits Summer's Gravestone and defeats a group of Beowolves.

 **CE 1785 January** \- Weiss fights the Arma Gigas as a test to earn her father's permission to attend Beacon Academy. She receives a scar over her left eye during the fight.

 **CE 1785 February 1, Saturday** \- Cinder recruits Roman Torchwick.

 **CE 1785 February 7, Friday** \- Cinder fails to recruit the White Fang.

 **CE 1785 February 8, Saturday** \- Blake leaves Adam Taurus and the White Fang after stealing Schnee Dust Company supplies from a train.

 **CE 1785 February 13, Thursday** \- Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald ambush Amber, the Fall Maiden, and steal half her power before Qrow interrupts them.

 **CE 1785 February 15, Saturday** \- Emiya Shirou arrives on Remnant, is found by Qrow Branwen, and taken to Ozpin.

 **CE 1785 February 16, Sunday** \- Cinder recruits Adam and the White Fang.

 **CE 1785 July 15, Tuesday** \- Roman hires Junior Xiong's men for a planned Dust heist. Immediately thereafter, Yang, in search of information about Raven, starts a brawl at Junior's Club.

 **CE 1785 July 23, Wednesday** \- Ruby confronts Roman and prevents his theft of From Dust Till Dawn. Glynda Goodwitch comes to her aid against Torchwick and Cinder. Ozpin offers Ruby a position at Beacon Academy.

 **CE 1785 July 26, Saturday** \- Emiya Shirou rescues a small town from a Grimm attack.

 **CE 1785 July 27, Sunday** \- Ozpin instructs Shirou to attend Beacon Academy and watch over Ruby.

 **CE 1785 August 3, Sunday** \- White Fang agitators disrupt a Faunus Civil Rights Protest, causing violence. Beacon's school year starts.

 **CE 1785 August 4, Monday** \- Beacon Academy Initiation, leading to the forming of Teams RWBY (Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang), JNPR (Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren), and CRDL (Cardin, Russel, Dove, Lark).

 **CE 1785 August 5, Tuesday** \- First day of classes at Beacon. Ruby talks with Ozpin about what it means to be a leader while Weiss talks to Shirou.

 **CE 1785 August 7, Thursday** \- Ruby asks Shirou about the name of his weapon.

 **CE 1785 August 8, Friday** \- Shirou begins teaching Jaune how to control his Aura through meditation.

 **CE 1785 August 9, Saturday** \- Jaune continues his Aura training with Pyrrha.

 **CE 1785 August 18, Monday** \- Ren has Shirou teach him how to cook better.

 **CE 1785 August 28, Thursday** \- Shirou saves a second year, Velvet Scarlatina, from being bullied by Team CRDL. Jaune reveals to Pyrrha that he forged documents to enter Beacon. Pyrrha offers to train Jaune and he accepts. Cardin Winchester overhears this.

 **CE 1785 August 29, Friday** \- Cardin blackmails Jaune into doing his dirty work.

 **CE 1785 September 1, Monday** \- Shirou and Ruby have a shooting contest.

 **CE 1785 September 3, Wednesday** \- Shirou and Blake have a talk about his past.

 **CE 1785 September 5, Friday** \- Everyone goes on a field trip to Forever Fall. Jaune saves Cardin's life and stops being blackmailed by him. Shirou goes out with Coco Adel and Velvet. Shirou, along with Team RWBY, meet Penny Polendina. Blake inadvertently reveals her identity as a former member of the White Fang and a Faunus to the rest of her team before running away with Shirou.

 **CE 1785 September 8, Monday** \- Roman attempts a major Dust robbery and Blake, Ruby, Penny, and Shirou foil him. Qrow contacts Ozpin to inform him that "Queen has pawns."

* * *

A/N: This is something I originally made for my own benefit to make sure I was understanding the passage of time correctly. I decided to go ahead and share it since I figured that you guys might like to see it, too. The year is completely made up by me but the amount of time between every event should be more or less accurate. I am aware that, in Volume 3, Ruby states that the current season is fall which would mean that Beacon starts its school year at a different time but, by the time I noticed that, it was too late to fix it.


	14. V2C1: Growing Pains

Ruby Rose twirled Crescent Rose back into a ready position as she slid to a stop from the last exchange. Her opponent was possibly her toughest one yet aside from her Uncle Qrow but this one was extremely different from everyone else she's fought. Every other tough opponent that she's faced, her friends (even Jaune), and even herself were all innately talented. They were born with great skill and their training was largely to just refine that skill and hone their natural instincts. They could progress in leaps and bounds with each new wall they broke through and the training they underwent often had a multiplicative effect. They were special. They stood out. They were just naturally better at these things than most people.

Her opponent, however, was not like that. Ruby's opponent had no great natural gift. It was a hard difference for most people to notice but those who are naturally talented or otherwise had a keen eye could tell it right away. Her opponent had no natural talent but simply applied themselves and pushed what little skill they started with until they could compete with the people who were. Whereas Ruby's movements were all instinctual and almost involuntary, her opponent moved with practiced ease and almost mechanical precision. Their instincts were being used, most certainly, but not to intuit the next natural course of action but rather to select the best action from a wide range of options. It was as if the fight was a game and her opponent was looking down on it from above, trying to predict her next move and figure out the best way to counter it. Theirs was not a talent gained innately and honed through practice but a skill developed painstakingly through countless hours of training and honed on countless more battlefields.

And Ruby admired them greatly for it. To reach such an amazing level through nothing but hard work and determination was beyond impressive. To analyze the battlefield and determine the best course to victory was an invaluable skill, one she'd do well to try and gain herself. Even as all of her attacks and stratagems were repelled, rebuffed, and rejected sometimes almost as soon as they began, she found herself not annoyed but almost enamored. Even though she wasn't entirely certain she could win, she was glad that she had gotten this fight. She admired the fighting style of her opponent, admired the weapons they used, and admired them. She had known this before but this fight made it blindly obvious that she could learn a lot by watching this person.

If Ruby had her way, she'd never take her eyes off of him.

OoOoOoO

Emiya Shirou returned to his guard position after having fended off Ruby's attack, the familiar forms of Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands. The young leader had practically pestered him for a sparring match ever since the fight on the docks three months ago. Shirou had been hesitant to agree at first and had used his reluctance to show off his powers to convince her to delay it but now their end-of-semester exams were over, they were on winter break, most of the students were gone, and Shirou had no excuse. He consoled himself with the fact that at least this way he could properly go all out (or close enough, at any rate) and find all of the flaws in her fighting style as quickly as possible.

The fight had been an interesting one so far. The arenas of the sparring hall weren't terribly large, being a roughly ten-meter long square with a featureless surface, but Shirou still found them interesting due to the fact that the walls were made of some sort of energy that was invisible unless struck. It was practically a bounded field made from science but it spoke wonders that this observation didn't impress Shirou that much. The small size of the arena didn't really bother him but it was certainly affecting Ruby as she had to be very careful about using her Semblance and the size of Crescent Rose also meant that she had to be very mindful of her surroundings to avoid hitting the walls.

That aside, being able to focus on Ruby fighting was a great learning experience. While he had been able to see her fight numerous times over the course of the last semester, it had been clear that she hadn't been taking those fights too seriously and that none of them had terribly pushed her. Against Shirou, however, that was no longer the case. He was someone she had to take seriously and push herself if she wanted to win. That might have also been the case against Roman or Neo but Shirou had been preoccupied with studying them and had only been able to make periphery observations about Ruby.

What Shirou had discovered during the course of the fight was both impressive and disappointing. It was painfully obvious that Ruby possessed great talent, far greater than that of her peers, as that was what had gotten her into Beacon two years early in the first place. She also possessed a good deal of creativity and had been able to react in unique ways whenever Shirou caught her off guard which had allowed her to avoid a fair number of blows. Her instincts were also incredibly sharp to the point where, at times, they almost bordered on precognition. However, all of her good points were also her bad points.

Ruby's obvious talent meant that, aside from Qrow, she had likely never really seriously fought anyone before Neo. That meant that she had no real experience in handling an opponent on relatively equal footing who wasn't also using a scythe. This lack of experience meant that Shirou, with his twin short swords, had been able to slip into her guard and throw her off balance with relative ease. Her creativity was great but it was also predictable. After the first couple of times, it was easy for Shirou to keep up with her unusual recoveries and plan around them. This was the key reason why Neo, who Shirou had noticed focused entirely on observing her opponent's fighting style then countering it, had been able to handle her easily. As for her instincts, the fact that they were great was both a blessing and a curse. If Shirou had to guess, Ruby may have very well been born with her instincts and, as such, she relied heavily on them. While this got her through most situations without too much issue, the fact of the matter was that her instincts weren't nearly sharp enough to lead her to victory if her chances weren't that great to begin with. Even Saber, whose instincts had been near flawless, had relied more on strategy and only used her instincts as a supplement.

The result was that, as the battle went on, it became increasingly one-sided despite the moral support of the rest of Team RWBY. This fact wasn't lost on Ruby but Shirou was interested to see that she seemed more excited than anything. She was certainly being a far better sport than he had been when he had started training with Saber.

Ruby suddenly launched forward in a flurry of rose petals so Shirou shifted his guard slightly. Ruby's attack was blocked but the force of the impact broke Shirou's guard, forcing him back a few steps even as his arms went upward. This was exactly what he had wanted, however, as he brought his weapons behind his back in time to block Ruby's follow-up attack. That last attack had been exactly what Shirou had needed to figure out one of Ruby's limits.

"You can only move in a straight line using your Semblance," Shirou noted as he returned to his guard.

Ruby looked shocked for an instant before smirking, "Maybe. So what?"

"You might as well stop using it. Even if I can't react to you, I can still predict your actions and act accordingly. If you keep using it, you might as well forfeit."

Ruby actually scowled at that. "Oh yeah? Then I'll just beat you with it anyway!" she said as she took off in a burst of speed.

Shirou couldn't believe that Ruby had fallen for that. Given by the way she had smacked her forehead, neither could Weiss.

Ruby's plan was as impressive as it was obvious. Shirou found himself in the middle of a hurricane of rose petals as Ruby bounded off of the floor, walls, and ceiling. The rose petals served to obscure her movements and position and it would have probably worked against most opponents but this had been _exactly_ what Shirou had expected her to do. Instead of trying to follow her with his eyes, Shirou actually closed them and let his arms rest in a neutral position at his sides. He focused on his hearing and instincts and had no great issue in hearing where she impacted a surface but even that proved unnecessary when Ruby came at him from behind, exactly as he had expected.

Needless to say, Ruby was quite surprised when Shirou, who had been apparently doing nothing, suddenly turned on the spot and lashed out with those twin swords. The result of this counterattack was that Ruby found herself tumbling across the floor before crashing upside down against the wall while Crescent Rose clattered on the ground a few meters away.

Shirou walked over to Crescent Rose and picked it up with a small amount of effort, examining it for a moment before tossing it away.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted indignantly as she rolled to her feet. Shirou had returned to his guard with Bakuya reappearing in his hand. "Fighting me without my weapon while you still have yours totally isn't fair!"

Shirou tilted his head quizzically. "You're right but real fights are never fair. That being said," Kanshou and Bakuya disappeared, fading away like they were made of sand, "I don't mind fighting this way."

Ruby looked surprised for a moment before quickly adopting an extremely amateurish version of Yang's boxing stance. While Shirou wasn't an accomplished martial artist by any stretch of the imagination— people like Ren and that monkey Faunus could easily tear him apart— he could still pick out the countless flaws in Ruby's opening stance. This raised a number of questions but he put them out of his mind for the time being.

Ruby was looking rather hesitant, slowly shuffling her way forward and to the side to no doubt try and create a clear line to her weapon, so Shirou went on the offensive for a change. Ruby's eyes widened as she threw out a weak left jab but Shirou easily brushed her attack aside and lashed out with a palm strike to the bridge of her nose that she didn't even try to dodge. As Ruby stumbled back in pain, Shirou stomped on the instep of her right foot before sending a snap kick to her solar plexus that knocked her back into the wall.

Ruby quickly recovered and came at Shirou with a slow left hook that Shirou lazily ducked under before countering with a sharp jab to her stomach. As Ruby doubled over in pain, Shirou struck with an uppercut to her chin before finishing up with a heel kick to her temple.

Ruby growled as she recovered and Shirou sprung into action the instant he smelt Ruby's power start to flare. Ruby shot off to her right and bounded off the wall to get around Shirou but was sent hurtling to the floor when Shirou bounded off her knee the instant her foot hit the ground and caught her in the side of the head with his shin.

"Is this really the best you can do?" Shirou asked with a mixture of concern, honest curiosity, and more than a little disappointment.

"Yeah, okay, so I can't fight without my weapon. So what? I don't need to so long as I have Crescent Rose!" Ruby replied with more than a little heat.

The aura around Shirou instantly darkened even as it felt like the air dropped ten degrees. Ruby felt her breath catch in her throat as Shirou leveled a look at her that was emotionless yet filled her with a nameless dread. She expected Shirou to reprimand her like Yang and her dad used to or maybe even let her get her weapon back so she was totally unprepared when charged forward like a gale, closing the five meters that existed between them in an instant, and decked her across the jaw with enough force to stagger her.

It was at this moment that Ruby realized that Shirou was no longer treating this as a sparring match and thus was no longer holding back.

Before Ruby could so much as blink, Shirou was on her again, slamming into her kidney with a palm strike that forced the air out of her lungs. She felt Shirou's other hand wrap around her throat before he knocked her legs out from under her with a leg sweep and slammed her into the floor. He then ran the length of the arena, dragging her along with him, before hoisting her into the air and slamming her against the wall. His hand mercifully left her throat but that was just so he could strike her solar plexus with another palm strike that made her cough up spittle along with what tiny bit of air was left in her. Her vision was starting to swim as Shirou grabber by the collar and headbutted her, the force of the impact knocking her head back into the wall. The instant that happened, Shirou summoned his twin swords and brought them together in a cross slash aimed at her neck. While her Aura stopped the blow, it left her pinned to the wall and unable to breathe even as her Aura crackled as it tried to repel the weapons.

Just as Ruby felt her consciousness start to slip, there was a siren as her Aura Meter fell into the red and the pressure was instantly gone. She immediately fell to the ground and began coughing and gasping for breath even as she massaged her sore throat. She looked up to see Shirou offering her a hand but, when she went to grab it, a blonde missile crashed into him from the side.

Shirou let out a pained cough as Yang pinned him to the far wall by his throat, her right hand drawn back to strike. "What the fuck do you think you were doing to my sister?" she asked in little more than a growl.

"Teaching her a valuable lesson," Shirou answered calmly as he stared unwaveringly into Yang's red eyes. Behind her, Shirou could see Blake hesitating between letting this play out and interfering while Weiss helped a worried Ruby to her feet.

"'Valuable lesson'? You were already winning that fight! What lesson could she possibly learn from you trying to kill her?"

"What it's like fighting someone trying to kill her. She wasn't taking it seriously even when I had disarmed her and had her at my mercy. She's training to be a Huntress, one of the most dangerous professions in the world. She needs to learn what it's like fighting another person who wants to kill her and it's better she learn that now under safe conditions than when in an actual fight for her life. She— all of you need to learn how to stare down death and not even blink. What it's like to be in a fight where even a single mistake will cost you your life. And not a fight against a mindless beast like the Grimm but against a living, thinking, reasoning person who can try to force their will onto you. Most people don't take this seriously until it's too late.

"When Ruby insinuated that she didn't need to know hand-to-hand combat because she was so good with her scythe even when in the position she was, I knew that I had no choice but to prove my point. Words would be wasted, especially since I'd be shocked if you've never tried to teach her yourself. So I did what I had to do. If words wouldn't work then I'd just have to beat the lesson into her. It's not nice but I'd rather be cruel for a moment than see her lying in a pool of her own blood because she wasn't properly prepared."

Yang's eyes were back to their usual violet color but her glare didn't soften nor did her grip loosen. They stared silently at each other for a long moment before Yang growled and let him go, abruptly turning on her heel and taking two steps away before just as abruptly spinning around and slugging Shirou in the jaw with enough force to drop him to the ground.

"I get what you were trying to do and I appreciate you trying to help my sister," Yang said, her voice dangerously low and full of venom, "but if you pull a stunt like that again, you _will_ answer to me. You got that?" When Shirou nodded while massaging his jaw, Yang spun back around and began marching toward the exit. "C'mon, Rubes. Let's get out of here." Any objections Ruby might have had were ignored as Yang grabbed her hand and nearly drug her out.

Shirou was still massaging his jaw when a hand entered his vision. He looked up to see Blake staring down at him with an unreadable expression. After Shirou had grabbed her hand and stood up, she spoke. "For what it's worth, I think Yang was wrong but so were you." At Shirou's questioning look, Blake explained further. "While I agree with you about needing to learn that lesson, you shouldn't have just sprung it on her so suddenly. You should have explained what you were going to do ahead of time to make sure she was okay with it."

"Like I said to Yang, I'd much rather she resent me for a while— for her whole life, even— than die because she wasn't ready. Too many people have already died because I couldn't do anything. I'm not about to sit back and let more people die when I _can_ do something just to spare their feelings."

Blake's blank expression softened into a sympathetic look at Shirou's words. She gave him a small smile even as she put a supportive hand on his shoulder. "I don't know what you went through but I think I understand what you're thinking. You're a good person, Shirou. This kind of thing is beneath you." They stayed that way for a long moment, Blake trying her best to provide comfort and support while Shirou stared down as his feet. Eventually, Blake withdrew her hand but her smile remained. "You should make it up to her. I happen to know that she really likes strawberries and chocolate chip cookies."

Shirou was silent for a moment longer before nodding his head. "Yeah. I probably should."

As the two of them walked out, Weiss couldn't help but watch them. She had _never_ seen Blake that affectionate before and what was all that about people dying because of Shirou? The redhead was a mystery wrapped in an enigma and it seemed like the more Weiss learned about him, the more confused she became. What had happened between Shirou and Blake during those three days that they were missing? What was happening between them now? While both important questions, there was one more that was far more important than the rest. One that she probably should have been asking herself since she first met him. One that she was determined to find the answer to.

Who was Emiya Shirou?

OoOoOoO

Shirou cautiously opened the door leading to the roof of his dorm building, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the light of the setting sun. Sitting at the edge of the roof, staring out over the grounds of Beacon and to the city beyond it, was Ruby; her legs pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on her arms. He couldn't see her face from this angle but he couldn't feel any off-kilter emotions coming from her. Still, seeing the usually energetic girl be so still and quiet was disconcerting. He supposed that everyone needed a break every now and then but he couldn't help but feel like he was at fault here. Which, of course, was exactly why he was here and carrying a small container in the first place.

"Hey, Shirou," Ruby said as the redhead sat down next to her.

"Ruby. What are you doing up here?"

"Nothing much. I like to come up here sometimes and just kinda unwind. Just not think about things and enjoy the sunset." Shirou glanced over at Ruby's face and saw that she seemed perfectly calm and content. There were no signs of troubled thoughts or discomfort. She seemed to be completely honest and, not for the first time, Shirou wondered if Ruby even had it in her to lie.

Regardless, Shirou had something to do even if it was viewed as unnecessary. "Here. I made these for you," he said as he held out the small container to her.

"You made something for me? How come?" Ruby asked as she took it, more than a little intrigued and excited.

"It's an apology gift. I'm sorry. Yang was right. I shouldn't have attacked you like that at the end of our sparring session. I should have talked to you about it first," Shirou said as he bowed his head towards her.

"Oh, no, it's okay, really!" Ruby said quickly as she placed the container down and waved her arms back and forth. "I understood why you did it and you were right. I really wasn't taking it that seriously. It's probably why I didn't do so well against Neo. I'm really sorry Yang hit you like that."

Shirou shook his head, astonished that Ruby would apologize for something her sister did when he was the one who was clearly in the wrong. "No, it's okay. I deserved that. Aren't you going to see what I made you?" Shirou asked to forestall any counter-arguments from Ruby.

Ruby opened the container and Shirou couldn't help but smile slightly as her eyes went wide as she gasped. She pulled out one of the pink chocolate chip cookies and Shirou's smile threatened to split his face as she went all starry-eyed after taking a bite.

"Strawberry chocolate chip cookies‽ Shirou, you're the best!" Ruby screamed as she threw her arms around the redhead's neck. For his part, Shirou tensed up, every muscle in his body freezing at the unexpected contact. She let go before he could react further and returned to her treat.

"It's no problem, really. You should thank Blake for telling me that you liked strawberries and cookies."

"How did you know I preferred crunchy to chewy?" Ruby asked as she swung her legs back and forth over the side of the building and helped herself to another one.

"I asked Yang."

"Yeesh. That must of been fun given that she was still mad at you when I last saw her."

"Yeah, but she calmed down when I explained what I planned on doing."

"That's Yang for ya. There are two things that are guaranteed to make her mad: Messing with her hair and hurting me. I love her but I really wish she'd calm down. I can handle myself."

Shirou hummed and turned his attention to the sunset, deciding to enjoy it himself while Ruby happily munched away at her cookies. After some time, Ruby spoke up again.

"Hey, Shirou?" she asked tentatively.

"Hm?"

"Do you think you'd be up to helping me train? You're really good at all of this fighting stuff and I think I could learn a lot from you."

"Of course, Ruby. I'd be more than happy to help."

"Thanks, Shirou. You really are the best," Ruby said as she beamed at him.

Shirou returned her smile with a small one of his own even as a small part of him began feeling uncomfortable. "Not really. I just do what I can."

Ruby just hummed in response, clearly not agreeing. It seemed like she'd be getting her way after all.

( _Remnants of Fate_ Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young)

* * *

A/N: It sure has been a while. Sorry for the delay, everyone, but life got pretty hectic for me. Volume 2 is, at last, complete, however, so, barring anything crazy happening, you should be able to expect weekly uploads from now until we reach the end of the volume.

There's quite a bit of original content in this volume and quite a few changes to things here and there. I'll be explaining these changes as they come up.

I hope you've enjoyed the story's return and I'll see you next chapter!


	15. V2C2: Lessons Learned

A/N: Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

Winter break had been a very interesting experience for Shirou. For the first time since he had arrived on Remnant, he found himself with basically nothing to do. Even when counting his time on Earth, such downtime was a rarity as he had always been practicing magecraft, training, working at his part-time job, taking care of Fuji-nee, or any number of other things. Now, however, had been different. He still had plenty to do but what there was didn't take that long. Since they didn't have school to worry about, Ren had asked to help Shirou with the cooking more often and Ruby had insisted on sparring with him fairly regularly. He had also ended up fighting the rest of Team RWBY, starting with Yang, and while that had been an enlightening experience for all of them, those had only been one-off fights.

Other than that, Shirou didn't have anything to take up his time. He still regularly practiced his magecraft and he had extended the time he dedicated to it but that still only took a couple of hours. There wasn't much in the way of physical training he could do that he wasn't already doing. While it was nothing compared to his hours long, daily sparring with Saber; he figured that no one else wanted to devote so much time to training during their vacation.

It was four days into winter break that Shirou experienced something new. For the first time in his life that he could remember, Emiya Shirou was bored. He had contemplated asking Ozpin for a quick assignment but he knew that the Headmaster wouldn't agree to it for a number of reasons, chief among them being that Blake knew that Shirou didn't have any place to go and thus his absence couldn't be easily explained. He had even contemplated hitting up Coco to see if she was in need of a pack mule again before deciding that risking his sanity to try and save his sanity was an insane idea. That left reading ahead for his classes, an action that Weiss applauded while Ruby and Yang acted like he should be put in a straightjacket.

There was also the matter of Blake becoming increasingly moody and while Shirou knew why he also knew that he couldn't do anything right now. If she wanted to talk to him about it, she would come to him. Until such a time, he could only watch and make sure she didn't do anything self-destructive. Blake had also taken to studying with him more and just generally being more helpful which was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

As such, Shirou was extremely pleased when the last day of their break rolled around. While classes could be rather monotonous, at least they gave him something to do. Not that it seemed he had to worry about being bored today seeing as Ruby had just slammed a giant binder onto the table in the cafeteria as they were all eating there for a change (even though Shirou and Ren still cooked everything).

Ruby cleared her throat before gesturing to the table where Teams RWBY and JNPR, as well as Shirou, sat. "Sisters... friends... Weiss," Ruby began, ignoring the heiress' indignant shout, "Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."

"This ought to be good," Yang said as she caught another berry in her mouth that Nora had flicked toward her.

"A dream that one day, the four of us will come together as a _team_ and have the most fun anyone has ever had… _ever!_ "

"Did you steal my binder?" Weiss suddenly asked as she looked at the cover the gigantic binder to see "Vytal Festival Activities, Property of Weiss Schnee" crossed out and "Best Day Ever Activities" written underneath in red ink.

"I am not a crook," Ruby said as she flashed her partner a double peace sign.

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked as she put away her notebook. She had claimed that it was her notes from last semester but Shirou was reasonably certain that they were her notes on the White Fang.

"I'm talking about kicking off the semester with a bang!" Ruby said as she pointed at her teammate.

"I always kick my semesters off with a _Yang!_ Eh? Guys? Am I right?" Yang quipped, earning her a swift apple to the head and a "Boo" from Nora.

"Look, guys, it's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students arriving, the dance, our first mission, and the tournament at the end of the school year; our second semester is going to be great! But classes start back up tomorrow! Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today."

"I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store," Weiss said as Yang picked up the apple and threw it at Nora who quickly dodged, causing the fruit to hit some guy in the back of the head.

"I don't know. I think I might sit this one out," Blake as she hesitantly looked at her team. Shirou cast her a sidelong look as he continued calmly eating, wondering if he was going to have to have another talk with her.

"Sit out or not, I think that, however we spend this last day, we should do it as a team!" Weiss said as she nodded to herself before standing up. "I, for one, think that—" Unfortunately, Weiss was so caught up in whatever she was about to say that she missed Nora's warning and didn't notice the pie flying her way until it had hit her square in the face.

Shirou was honestly not entirely certain what happened next. After Weiss had been hit, food started flying everywhere as the saner students started to flee the cafeteria. He honestly didn't pay much attention as, after living with Fuji-nee for as long as he did, he knew when to just keep his head down and let the craziness play out. When he finally did look up from his food, he saw that Team JNPR had created a fort out of a bunch of tables at the far side of the room, Nora standing atop of it and chanting "I'm queen of the castle", while Team RWBY stood closer to him, Ruby looking as if she was leading her team into a war.

Interestingly enough, despite the rest of the room being a disaster area, the place around the table they had been sitting at, along with the remains of the food Shirou and Ren had made, was completely pristine.

What followed was the most impressive food fight Shirou had ever witnessed (which, admittedly, wasn't that impressive when it was also the _only_ food fight he had ever witnessed). As he continued to calmly eat his breakfast, Shirou couldn't help but ponder the frightening amount of headway they'd make if they put this much effort into their training. The restraint and precision on display were also impressive as the area around his table remained undisturbed. While Shirou had no interest in joining in on the battle, it was clear that the others wished that to not be the case.

"I'll tell you the best place in Vale to get cookies!" Ruby had said in an attempt to bribe Shirou when she was near him.

"I don't like buying food that I can make myself."

"I'll teach you martial arts!" Ren had offered.

"I'm fine with my current skills."

"I'll let you ride Bumblebee!" Yang tried, referring to her motorcycle.

"I have no place I wish to go and joy rides aren't my thing."

"I'll break someone's legs for you!" Nora said.

"Nora!" Ren said, cutting off Shirou's response.

"I'll give you my copy of _Ninjas of Love_!" Blake said.

"I don't read smut." Blake whirled on Shirou, eyes full of righteous indignation as the redhead obliviously sipped his tea, but her attempt to strangle him was cut short when Jaune, of all people, charged at her and knocked her away with a stick of salami.

"I saved your life!" the blond said proudly.

"Meh," Shirou shrugged before turning back to his food.

Next was Weiss. "I'll buy you a mansion!"

That actually made Shirou look up. "What on Earth would I do with a mansion?" Shirou cringed internally at the slip of tongue but thankfully didn't have to try and cover up his mistake as Nora chose that moment to smash Weiss into a pillar was a watermelon-on-a-pole.

The fight raged on as both teams conceded that Shirou was going to be a non-combatant. Everything changed, however, when the redhead suddenly stood up. Both teams immediately froze in place as they watched with rapt attention as their mutual friend collected his garbage and took it over to a trash can that was miraculously still standing before making his way out of the building.

"Mister Emiya! What on Remnant is going on in there‽" Glynda Goodwitch demanded as she rapidly approached the cafeteria, Ozpin languidly trailing behind.

Shirou looked back into the war zone to see Ruby charge toward Team JNPR with her Semblance, the wind coming off of her dragging the debris from the fight along.

"Team RWBY is going on," Shirou said simply as he turned his attention back to the teachers. Glynda looked like she was stuck between confused and indignant but settled on indignant as Ozpin nodded as if that explained everything.

"I swear, I'm going to go grey at this rate," Glynda muttered angrily to herself before pressing on into the remains of the cafeteria.

"Shirou," Ozpin called out after the two had passed. "Do try and have some fun. This peace won't last forever." Shirou whirled around, ready to demand that the headmaster tell him what he was hiding, but Ozpin was already gone.

OoOoOoO

General James Ironwood took a steadying breath as he tapped the digital screen next to the door of Ozpin's office. His relationship with the ever enigmatic headmaster of Beacon had always been a tense one and he knew perfectly well that his recent action of bringing part of his army to the academy wouldn't win him any points. Regardless, he'd just have to try and convince him that this was the best way to keep the peace. Ironwood would never understand why Ozpin was so intent on playing this weird game of chess with Salem instead of just knocking down her front door with the largest army in the world. Of course, Ironwood couldn't seem to understand many of Ozpin's recent decisions.

"Come in," Ozpin said from the other side of the door, the voice authentication program opening the door automatically.

"Ozpin!" Ironwood said with a smile as he entered the other headmaster's office. The location of the office at the top of Beacon Tower, along with its exposed gears in the walls and ceiling that worked to turn the hands of the tower's clock, always struck the general as rather strange but it was one of the minor mysteries that he had learned to live with.

"Hello, General," Ozpin greeted as he stepped in front of his desk, his hands folded behind his back.

"Please, drop the formalities," Ironwood replied as the two approached each other and shook hands. "It's been too long. And Glynda! It has certainly been too long since we last met."

"Oh, James!" Glynda said with a false cheerfulness before dropping the act almost immediately. "I'll be outside."

"Well, she hasn't changed a bit," Ironwood quipped as he watched the blonde teacher leave.

"So, what in the world has brought you all the way down from Atlas?" Ozpin asked as he turned back to his desk and prepared two cups of some brown liquid from an ornate kettle. "Headmasters don't typically travel with their students for the Vytal Festival."

Ozpin handed Ironwood one of the cups which the general graciously accepted, his gloved right hand clinking as he grabbed it. Ironwood had hoped that Ozpin was serving coffee for once but his hopes were quickly dashed by the smell. Ozpin's obsession with hot cocoa was another oddity that he had learned to live with but it gnawed at him more than it should.

"Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year," Ironwood said as he produced a metal canteen from his coat pocket and added it to the beverage. "Besides, with you hosting, I thought that this might be a good opportunity for us to catch up."

"I can certainly appreciate the quality time between friends, however, the small fleet outside my window has me concerned," Ozpin said as he walked around his desk and sat down, picking up his cup.

"Well, concern is what brought them here."

"I understand that travel between kingdoms has become increasingly difficult."

"Oz, you and I both know why I brought those men."

Ozpin took a sip of his cocoa before continuing, "We are in a time of peace. Shows of power like this are just going to give off the wrong impression."

"But if what Qrow said is true—"

"If what Qrow said is true, then we will handle it tactfully. It's the Vytal Festival. A time to celebrate unity and peace. So I suggest that you not scare people by transporting hundreds of soldiers halfway across the continent."

"I'm just being cautious."

"As am I."

"If you're being cautious then what's all this about letting some kid— Emiya Shirou, I think his name was— who Qrow found in the middle of nowhere in on some of Remnant's biggest secrets?"

"Shirou is trustworthy and capable. He's already proven himself useful by gaining intelligence, saving lives, and helping to prepare us for the future; often all three at once."

"But do you really think it's wise to trust him? You know nothing about him. For all you know, he could be working for Salem as a spy."

"I can assure you that Salem doesn't even know that Shirou exists. Even if she did, he would just be yet another Huntsman that I'm using as a pawn and would require no special effort. There's a reason why I've only given him low-key assignments. The longer Salem doesn't suspect anything of him, the better.

"As for not knowing anything about him, I know plenty. Possibly even more than he knows himself. His appearance, while not necessarily expected, was no accident. It was in the best interest of everyone if I told him everything he needed to know."

"What are you playing at, Oz?" Ironwood asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"Just a game that's gone on for far too long that I hope to bring to an end soon. Which is why we will continue to train the best Huntsmen and Huntresses we can."

"Believe me, I am," Ironwood said as he turned to walk away. When he was halfway to the door, he stopped and looked over his shoulder back at Ozpin. "But ask yourself this: Do you honestly believe your children can win a war?" he asked before making his exit.

"I hope they never have to."

OoOoOoO

Ruby Rose and Emiya Shirou once again found themselves in the sparring hall facing each other down. Unlike the first time they fought, they were completely unarmed and assumed basic defensive stances while the slowly circled each other. Knowing that it would leave her open, Ruby slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath even as Shirou charged forward.

The past couple weeks of training with Shirou had been very enlightening to Ruby. There wasn't really anything he could teach her about using a scythe and, as such, they had very rarely sparred with their weapons. Instead, Shirou had been teaching her the various strikes and takedowns that he knew. While Yang and Taiyang, their father, had tried to teach her hand-to-hand combat for years, their kickboxing lessons had been something that she had never been good at. The mindset for kickboxing was simply countercurrent with the one she needed to use her scythe and the muscle build was also all wrong. Shirou's style, however, was a much better fit for her. While he continued to insist that he wasn't a martial artist (and Ruby was inclined to agree when she compared him to Ren or even Yang), his almost startlingly vast knowledge of how to dismantle people was useful in finding techniques that suited Ruby's build and stature. His focus on taking down the target as efficiently as possible made it very easy for her to create openings to retrieve her weapon.

Not only that, there was also one other thing that Shirou had been teaching her. It was something he called "killing intent" and was the very thing he had used to stun her in their first fight. In hindsight, he had also used it against Roman and Neo to little effect and had used it against Jaune back before their initiation test. She had brought that up with him when she remembered it and she found the embarrassed expression on his face as he explained his mistake to be adorable.

This "killing intent" was something that Ruby was struggling with which was a new experience for her. Even if it was fake, as Shirou assured her when she had asked if that meant Shirou wanted to kill her, trying to give off the impression that she was going to kill someone was extremely difficult for her. Simply put, she couldn't even imagine hating someone enough that she wanted to kill them and just the very idea of her killing someone was absurd. When she had explained this to Shirou one day, the smile he had given her left her with a very warm feeling in her core.

Still, even with her difficulties with it, Ruby still had to practice it. As such, when the count of Shirou's footsteps put him in the perfect spot, Ruby's silver eyes snapped open as she glared at the redhead and tried to focus all of her will onto him. He didn't even so much as blink but her failure there didn't stop her from successfully deflecting the palm strike he had aimed at her solar plexus before trying to sweep his forward foot out from under him. He saw through her choke slam set-up, however, and had hopped to avoid the trip while bringing his back leg around in a crescent kick that caught her in the side of the head.

Ruby stumbled to the side and ducked down purely on instinct to dodge Shirou's follow-up roundhouse kick. She tried to go for another leg sweep but was forced to eat a backflip kick to the jaw as Shirou easily predicted her move. She threw herself to the side to avoid whatever Shirou's follow-up was and was forced to backpedal after she came out of her roll to avoid a dropkick. Stunned as she was, however, she was too slow as the attack collided with her chest rather than face and sent her sliding to a stop on her back.

Ruby blinked the stars out of her eyes just in time to see Shirou's hand reaching down to her. With a small smile, Ruby grabbed the offered hand and rose to her feet. She let out a low groan as her body felt sore all over from the beating she just took. At least she was improving. The first time they had done this, it had taken about half a day for her to shake off the lingering effects but now she could already feel the discomfort fading.

"You did well today," Shirou said as he walked over to the bench where their water bottles and hand towels awaited. Ruby took pride in the fact that the older boy's casual clothing— a white, long-sleeved shirt with blue sleeves and blue jeans— were more ruffled than they usually were.

"Thanks but I still can't get that killing intent thing down," Ruby said as she took a sip of her water.

"You're getting there, though. While the effect was minimal, I could certainly feel a pressure coming from you. At that level, it could certainly be used to unnerve most people but it's unlikely to help you in fights."

"How was my fighting?"

Shirou took a drink as well, using the pause to word his answer. "You've got the basic movements down well enough and you've mastered the theory but your biggest flaw is still there. You rely too much on your instincts when you fight and those instincts aren't good enough to carry you through any fight against an opponent of equal or greater skill. You need to actually plan more and not just your moves but the most likely moves your opponents will take. I know that you have the mind for it— your plan to takedown the giant Nevermore proved that to me— you just need to be doing that constantly."

Ruby hummed for a moment as she and Shirou put on their jackets. "That sounds like a lot of hard work."

"It is. The results are well worth it, though."

"I believe you. So… Have you heard about the dance coming up?" Ruby asked as they started to make their way out of the training hall and back to their dorms, the snow crunching under their shoes.

"I'm aware of it. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. I was just wondering if I'll bother to go or not. I've never been able to dance."

"I don't plan on going. I never bothered learning how to dance, either, and my time is much better used on other tasks."

"I kinda figured you'd say that. You really are a workaholic, Shirou."

"Perhaps. I just like being busy is all. If I'm not doing something productive, I feel like I'm wasting my time."

"Is that why you didn't join in our food fight yesterday?"

"Pretty much."

"You don't think having fun with your friends is productive?"

Shirou quickly took a long drink of water in order to buy time to compose his answer. He didn't want to lie to her but telling her the truth would lead to far too many questions. "I… wouldn't say that. It's… complicated. That kind of thing just isn't my style."

"Then what _is_ your style?"

Shirou brought his water bottle halfway up to his lips before stopping. Doing that twice in succession would be too obvious. "I… can't… really… say. I've never really taken the time to do anything like that. Well, there was once but that was a really special occasion."

"You mean you've just been training and studying since you were a kid?"

"Pretty much."

The two of them fell into an awkward silence as Ruby stared at her friend, her eyes full of confusion, concern, and compassion. She couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to go through life without having fun once in a while. What in the world happened to make her friend that way? To be so willing to help her and anyone else with their problems but never take any time for himself?

"Then maybe we should do something together," Ruby said after a while. "Maybe we could all go watch a movie or something this weekend. You and me and the rest of my team."

Shirou was silent for a moment as he gave the younger girl an appraising look from the corner of his eye. At length, he replied, "Maybe we will."

It wasn't an affirmative but it would do for now. Ruby didn't know why her friend was so resistant to the idea of having fun but, whatever the reason, she knew that she didn't like it and that, if Shirou wouldn't save himself, then she'd just have to save him instead.

* * *

A/N: So, I've received a number of comments regarding a particular part of the narration back in V1C10. Specifically, some people have taken umbrage with the statement that Archer never encountered anything quite like what can be found on Remnant. Allow me to clarify that statement. It had nothing to do with power. Rather, by my estimation, Archer never fought anyone who used an umbrella as a weapon or someone who used a cane that doubled as a flare gun. Similarly, I doubt that he fought anyone who has a constant force field up. Whenever Archer fought someone, if he slashed their neck, they were probably dead. This is not the case on Remnant thanks to Aura. That's what I meant by that statement.

Also, to reiterate just in case, I'm ignoring FGO because I hate it.

I decided to not describe the food fight because I couldn't top canon and it'd just be a repeat anyway.

On a brighter note, the omake are back! Have one!

 **Omake 5  
** Team Responsibilities  
Before V2C2

Emiya Shirou dismissed Kanshou and Bakuya as the klaxon blared, signaling the end of the match. He honestly didn't need them for this fight but, for the sake of the other person's pride, he decided to use his "Semblance."

"That was a good match," Shirou said to Weiss Schnee, who was getting to her feet as Shirou approached. The rest of Team RWBY also came onto the arena where they had been fighting.

"Hardly. I didn't land a single hit on you," Weis said somewhat bitterly. Ruby Rose gave her partner a sympathetic smile and pat on the shoulder.

"Maybe but your wide variety of options for both offense and defense kept me on my toes. You even nearly managed to trap me in your ice once or twice."

Weiss shook her head, "Even so, I'm disappointed in my performance. I could tell that you were holding back that entire time."

Shirou smiled bashfully as he rubbed at the back of his head, "You're right, I was, but don't let that get to you. I've been fighting on my own for basically my entire life and, even now, I don't have a team to back me up. You, however, are different. The large number of abilities that your Semblance grants you make you an incredible asset to any team. The number of combination attacks available to you are simply staggering."

"Shirou's right," Yang added as she patted Weiss on the back. "We wouldn't be half the team we are without you!"

Weiss looked at the smiling faces of her team before smiling ruefully and saying, "Even so, it would be nice if I was able to rely on my own strength every now and then."

"Don't be absurd," Shirou said sharply, much to everyone's surprise. "On our own, there's not a whole lot that we can do. It's only by working together and relying on our friends and allies that our goals can be accomplished. I honestly envy you. For all of the power and skill that I have, I simply don't work all that well with a team. The potential for my powers to be used in conjunction with another's is incredibly limited. You, however, are the exact opposite. Your greatest strength lies in working with your team."

Weiss looked thoughtful as the others voiced their agreement. The notion that Shirou was saying was completely at odds with what she had been taught all of her life. To stand on her own two feet and rely solely on her strength to overcome all adversity. That was the lesson that her father had drilled into her for as long as she could remember. And yet, despite that, her best performances so far had been when she was working alongside someone. While she was confident that she could have taken that pack of Beowolves that they encountered in the forest on her own with some difficulty, working alongside Ruby made it a breeze. Then there was the giant Nevermore. Even at her current level, she doubted that she could have handled it on her own.

Maybe that was something else that her father was wrong about.

Smiling up at the rest of her team, Weiss nodded. "You're right. It's my responsibility to take care of my team and they'll take care of me in return." Blake nodded at her words while Yang gave her a thumbs up. Ruby just hugged her outright. "In fact, I think I already have some ideas on how we can use my Semblance…" Weiss began as she pushed Ruby off of her.

"I'll leave you girls to it, then," Shirou said before walking off.

It had only been for an instant but why did Shirou look so sad when he was leaving?


	16. V2C3: The Sins We Bear

A/N: Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

Blake Belladonna sighed deeply as she sat down on her bed and took off her black bow to reveal her cat ears. Those ears, the mark of her status as a Faunus, were currently drooping forward as her thoughts swirled and raced and chased each other until she almost felt physically exhausted. It was usually easy enough to act normally when there were other things to focus on but, as the day winded down and she had less to do, it became harder and harder to keep the storm that was roiling inside of her from showing. It seemed that she had been doing a good enough job of it, though, since no one seemed to have noticed anything odd. Well, Shirou had and he knew exactly what was troubling her but he was an exception. He was too polite to try and interfere unless he felt that he had to so he had just restated his offer to help her in any way he could and then left her be. She honestly really appreciated that about him even if it just reminded her of his own issues.

Ever since the battle on the docks and the revelations that had brought, Blake had been consumed by thoughts of the White Fang. Just what in the world were they planning? They had done some pretty big operations while she was a part of them but nothing on such a scale as to require that much Dust. It didn't even make sense as a general supply job since it didn't fit their MO. No matter how much she thought about it, it just didn't make sense. Had they really changed that much since she left a bit over half a year ago? Was it related to _that man_ having made a deal with some Human? Was Sienna Khan planning to make a large push into one of the kingdoms? There were just too many questions and not an answer in sight.

As if she didn't have enough to deal with, Blake's thoughts also kept going back to the conversation she had with Professor Ozpin the morning after the battle. He had revealed, in a roundabout way, that he knew that Blake was a Faunus and implied that he had known since the beginning. While that unnerved her somewhat, the fact that both Shirou and even Penny had figured out her secret lessened it. Then there were the other questions and implications. She still had no idea what the professor had meant when he asked what she was but the implication that she might be a threat to others wasn't lost on her.

Then there was Ozpin's comment about Blake's relationship with Shirou. It had just been an innocuous statement, saying that they must be close, but she felt almost compelled to explain their relationship. She had only explained the events that led to her staying in his apartment and saying that she considers him to be a good friend but even that much seemed to satisfy the headmaster if his pleased smile was anything to go by. It made sense, she supposed. She knew that Ozpin was the reason Shirou had an apartment in Vale and had been given the chance to join Beacon. He was basically Shirou's guardian, for all intents and purposes, so of course he would want to know how his ward is doing. He also couldn't just ask Shirou directly because Shirou was simply too nice. Even if he _was_ having issues, he'd never tell someone about them unless you caught him in the right mood.

Her answer to Ozpin aside, Blake honestly didn't know _what_ her relationship with Shirou was. He was undoubtedly a good friend but a lot of the things he did seemed odd for mere friendship. If it had been someone else, Blake would have thought that he was trying to court her but the idea of Emiya Shirou doing something with an ulterior motive was absurd. There had truly been nothing more than simple friendship behind his actions and he honestly didn't expect or want anything in return. To him, this was just something you did for a friend.

Then there was the matter of Blake's own feelings towards the boy. It was undeniable that she was close to Emiya Shirou. He was closer to her than anyone at Beacon and closer than anyone had gotten since Ilia. She hadn't been lying when she promised herself to help him whenever she could and she had been trying to live up to that promise. There wasn't much that she could do since Shirou's problems seemed to be rooted in his tragic past but she still did what she could. She'd study with him whenever he wasn't studying with Ruby, she'd volunteer to partner up with him for class projects that absolutely required a partner (which often doubled her workload but she didn't complain) if one wasn't assigned to him, and just generally did whatever she could to make his life a little easier. She cared for him a fair amount, that much was undeniable, but the full extent of her feelings were completely unknown, even to herself. Regardless, it was something she'd have to take great care with in the future. If _that man_ had taught her anything, it was that she couldn't trust her feelings.

The whirlpool of thoughts had started to give Blake a headache when she heard the rest of her team walking down the hall. When Blake had left them, they had been playing a game of Peril in the library and had just started a new one but it seemed that the game had ended unusually quickly. Their first game had taken them a solid three hours but this one had barely lasted one.

"Ugh, we should have never let him play!" Yang said as she approached the door to their room.

"You're just mad cuz Jaune beat you! See, if you had just attacked when I told you, none of this would have happened," Ruby replied.

"The fact that it was _Jaune_ is what makes me so mad! I didn't even know you could _do_ that!" Yang continued as she entered the room with the rest of the team.

"To be fair, he said that his family played the game every week since he was a kid."

"Stop," Weiss interjected after they were all inside. She spun on her heel and pointed accusingly at Blake, who had been in the process of trying to sneak out the door. "Lately, you've been quiet, antisocial, and moody!"

"Yeah, Blake. You're normally pretty quiet but you've been a lot worse than usual. What's going on?" Yang asked, the concern clear in her voice as she approached her partner.

Blake looked trapped as her eyes flickered between her partner and the rest of her team who were looking at her expectantly. With drooping ears and a deep sigh, Blake hung her head and spoke, "I just, I don't understand how everyone can be so calm."

"You're still thinking about Torchwick?" Ruby asked as she approached her teammate.

"Torchwick, the White Fang, _all of it!_ Something _big_ is happening and no one is doing anything about it!"

"I get that this is a big deal to you, Blake, but Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police and the Huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it," Yang said.

"I don't _want_ them to handle it! Stopping the White Fang is the only way I can atone for my sins!"

"What are you talking about?" Yang asked, suddenly concerned.

Blake squeezed her eyes shut and took a steadying breath before her emotions could overwhelm her again. "I used to be a part of the White Fang. I've done horrible things to so many people. I've hurt them, betrayed them, lied to them, stabbed them in the back. My hands are stained with blood and this is the only way I can think of to make up for that."

"You've killed people?" a stunned Weiss asked, her complexion paler than usual.

"Not directly but a lot of people have died because of things I've done. That's why I want to be a Huntress. I want to save people to make up for the ones I've hurt so I won't be hounded by this guilt."

"Hey, it's okay," Yang said as she placed an arm around her partner's shoulders. "So what if you want to help people for selfish reasons? You're still helping people. Hell, I want to be a Huntress because I'm an adrenaline junkie and fighting the Grimm gives me such a rush. We can't all be like Rubes here and want to be a hero so people can be happy."

"Yaaaaaang!"

Blake gave Yang a small smile which the blonde returned tenfold. It was really sweet how her partner had been making such a conscious effort to be there for her and cheer her up since that night on the docks but all of the support in the world wouldn't change simple facts. As such, she shrugged out of Yang's half-hug before saying, "Thanks but that still doesn't change why I'm doing this."

Weiss swallowed thickly before speaking up despite the slight tremor in her voice, "I understand why you feel the need to stop them but we're just students. We're not ready to handle things like taking down criminal organizations."

Blake opened her mouth to respond but visibly restrained herself. Getting into another shouting match with the heiress would accomplish nothing. "And we may never _be_ ready," she said with some heat. "The longer we wait, the stronger they get and the harder it will be to stop whatever they're planning. They'll come to us eventually whether we're ready or not so we need to go to them when they're not expecting it. Taking action is the only way we can get ahead here."

"I suppose you _do_ have a point there," Weiss conceded with a sigh. "Alright, let's do this. It could be fun."

"What?"

"We're a team, aren't we? If we're going to stop these ne'er-do-wells, we're going to do it together."

"Weiss is right!" Ruby said as she pumped her fist into the air. "We might not be able to do it on our own but I _know_ we can do it together!"

"That's the spirit! What d'ya say, Blakey?" Yang asked.

Blake smiled at her teammates, a bit more fully this time. She really had no right to drag them into her problems like this but their overwhelming enthusiasm was infectious. She didn't deserve teammates like these but she'd certainly work until she did. "Alright, then. We're in this together!"

"Let's hatch a plan!" Ruby said dramatically as Yang cheered her on. Ruby's enthusiasm quickly turned to horror as she gasped, "I left my board game at the library!"

"We're doomed," Weiss said as she cradled her face in her hand as Ruby ran out the door.

"I'll be right back!"

Ruby was barely five feet out the door when she suddenly crashed into someone. Well, she _assumed_ that it was someone but it felt more like hitting a brick wall. "Sorry. Are you okay?" Ruby asked as she looked up at the person she had run into from where she now sat on the ground.

The person Ruby had run into was a dark skinned girl with mint-colored hair and piercing red eyes. To the girl's right was a fair skinned boy with silver-gray hair and matching eyes. Both were wearing black clothes that Ruby vaguely recognized as being Haven Academy's uniform. The girl seemed friendly enough with her small smile but the boy kinda gave Ruby the creeps with his constant, oddly stoic scowl.

"I'm fine," the girl said while extending her hand to Ruby. "Just watch where you're going."

"Oh, right, sorry," Ruby said as she took the girl's hand and stood up. "Um, I'm Ruby! Are you new?"

"Visiting from Haven, actually," someone else answered. The mint-haired girl stepped aside to reveal a pale skinned woman with long, raven black hair whose bangs hid one of her amber-colored eyes.

Ruby's breath caught when she saw this woman even as her brain kicked into high gear. Despite there being no signs of danger, her instincts were screaming at her that the woman before her was dangerous and it was taking a not inconsiderable force of will to keep herself rooted in place. While her body language was fairly relaxed and friendly, it was her eyes that had set Ruby on edge. This woman's amber eyes instantly brought to mind Shirou's ocher ones and then the comparisons wouldn't stop. Like Shirou's, this woman's eyes seemed friendly enough but they contained a depth to them that most people lacked. Just like Shirou, she had seen things that had shaken her very core and changed her utterly as a person. What laid beneath that mask of geniality was something that Ruby had no way of knowing but, if her instincts were right, it wasn't good.

Pushing her nerves down, Ruby collected herself and said, " _Ooh!_ You're here for the festival! But exchange students have their own dormitory."

"I guess we just got turned around," the silver-haired boy said.

"Hey, don't worry, it happens all the time," Ruby said reassuringly as the mint-haired girl and the silver-haired boy walked past. "Uh, your building is _just_ east of here," she said to the raven-haired woman.

"Thanks," the woman said before walking past as well. "Maybe we'll see you around."

"Yeah, maybe!" Ruby said to their retreating forms, trying to force some cheerfulness back into her voice. "Oh, uh, and welcome to Beacon!"

Ruby couldn't help but stare after them as they left, not bothering to respond to her welcome. Her eyes soon drifted to the door to Shirou's dorm and she was suddenly overcome by the urge to knock on the door and tell the older boy everything. Not just about the strange trio but about the plans she was making with her team as well. She had no idea what he could do about them but even the idea of him knowing was comforting and having him along to help with whatever they ended up doing in the future would certainly be nice.

Ruby almost unconsciously walked to his door and stopped just short knocking. This was silly. That trio from Haven had unnerved her but that didn't really mean anything. Her instincts didn't always lead her correctly and Shirou had been trying to get her to not rely on them so much. She still felt that she should tell him about what her team planned on doing but that could wait for tomorrow. She knew from Jaune that Shirou meditated every night so it would be rude to interrupt him. She would tell him tomorrow once her team actually had an idea as to what they were going to do and she had talked to them about bringing him in.

With her mind made up, Ruby turned away from Shirou's door and made her way back to the library.

OoOoOoO

"Thanks again for coming, Shirou," Velvet Scarlatina said as she and Emiya Shirou made their way through Vale's commercial district. Being that it was in the dead of winter and that snow had fallen the night before, the streets were relatively empty (which was to say you could actually move your arms without hitting someone). While the noonday sun made it not nearly as cold as it had been this morning, the temperature was still low enough that most people preferred to stay inside. This, naturally, made it the perfect time to get some shopping done before school started back up.

"It's no problem. I'm always happy to help," Shirou replied with a wave before returning his hand to the pocket of his black, hooded jacket. For her part, Velvet was wearing a chocolate brown woolen sweater and heavy, black jeans to go along with her black boots. Her mink gloves were a dark scarlet and she had her hair tied back in a low ponytail.

Shirou had been called out by Coco Adel in order to help with some shopping for the upcoming dance (it seemed that Team CFVY had been the ones chosen to plan it this year). Coco herself was supposed to have been there but something urgent had apparently come up that forced her to leave the job to Velvet. Shirou didn't terribly mind playing pack mule when told about it up front and Velvet was nice to talk to which was another plus. This also gave Shirou a chance to see what Vale looked like when blanketed by snow which was definitely something he wasn't going to complain about. It hardly ever snowed in Fuyuki and what snow they did get was very light so seeing the ground covered in several centimeters of the stuff was a new and frankly exciting experience.

Shirou paused for a moment as a sudden thought occurred to him. He wasn't entirely certain if it would be rude to ask but his long conversation with Blake two months ago made him think it would be fine. Even if it _was_ a bit of a faux pas, Velvet would probably forgive him. "If you don't me asking, what do you do if your ears get cold?" Shirou asked while gesturing to the long, brown rabbit ears on top of Velvet's head.

Velvet stared at Shirou in bewilderment for a moment before giggling, "You know, you're the first person to ask me that since Coco. That's why I have these." Velvet reached into her cream-colored handbag and pulled out a pair of brightly colored articles of clothing made from polar fleece that looked a bit like really small leggings.

"What are those?" Shirou asked with a tilt of his head.

"Ear socks! See?" Velvet said as she slid them over her rabbit ears before giving a little twirl. Shirou was briefly overcome by how adorable Velvet looked but he quickly pushed those thoughts aside. "It's a little warm for them, though," she said as she took them off and returned them to her bag. "The fur on them isn't just for show."

"So, what did Coco want us to get, anyway?" Shirou asked as they continued walking.

Velvet pulled out her Scroll as she answered, using a stylus to navigate through menus, "Not a whole lot, honestly. Since we were chosen to decorate for the dance, we were given a discretionary income for any decorations we might need. Fox is doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to the theme and layout while Coco is taking care of the minor details. Since Fox is still working on his design, we're just picking up a few small things that'll be needed regardless of what theme Fox goes with."

"Seems pretty straightforward," Shirou said with a nod. "What's Yatsuhashi's role in all this?"

"His biggest contribution will be once we start getting everything set up. He's physically the strongest one of us so he'll literally be doing the heavy lifting. Outside of that, he's also helping both Fox and Coco with their tasks since his spatial reasoning skills are incredible and he has a surprisingly vast knowledge of patterns."

"And yours?"

"Moral support, basically," Velvet admitted with a nervous smile. "I'm okay with clothing— there's no way you can't be after spending a year with Coco— but not much else. Coco still asks me for my opinion every now and then, though."

"Well, at least you're contributing. It'd be really awkward if you were the only one not doing work."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I still wish I could be a bit more helpful but there simply isn't anything I can do."

"I can certainly understand that feeling. Still, with your team being the ones behind the dance, it's certain to be interesting."

"Are you planning on going?"

"Not really. I might have poked my head in to see how it looked but with it not being held in the ballroom, that won't be happening. I've never really been one for that sort of thing anyway."

"Really? That's too bad. Once it's officially announced, I'm certain that a lot of girls will ask you to take them to it."

"If you say so."

"Well, anyway, hey, Shirou, um… Do you… have any plans for the rest of the day?" Velvet asked while watching Shirou out of the corner of her eye, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

"Not really. Why do you ask?"

"Well, since we're already here and Coco doesn't need that stuff right away, I was thinking that maybe, if you wanted, we could… just… hang out a bit?"

Shirou hummed in thought for a moment. While it seemed like a waste of time, he truly didn't have anything better to do and it wasn't like Velvet was bad to be around. "Sure. I don't mind."

Velvet smiled brightly at Shirou even as her face heated up a bit more, "Great! Why don't we hit up the mall first? I know some pretty great stores you might like!"

OoOoOoO

Shirou had to admit that Velvet was completely correct and that coming with her on this excursion had been a great idea. The Stalwart Mall was one of the smaller malls in the City of Vale but its selection of shops more than made up for it by offering things a bit more niche and specialized. The very first store Velvet had led him to was a small one tucked in a corner called Cooper's Culinary Corner. As the name suggested, it was a kitchen supply store that offered a rather large array of high quality goods at reasonable prices. It took Shirou a considerable amount of willpower to not spend all of his money there but that didn't stop him from buying a few things (the shop thankfully had a delivery service so he wouldn't have to lug his purchases around). He also took the time, after being prompted, to teach Velvet a bit about the basics of cooking utensils.

After that, Shirou felt the need to return the favor. He didn't really know what Velvet liked or what any of her hobbies were so he took a chance and led her to a sweets store he had looked up before their previous outing. Velvet had been aware of it but had never actually been in it and she seemed excited enough to check it out. The person at the counter had scowled at them when they entered but Shirou paid them no mind as they looked about. While Shirou never had much of a sweet tooth, it seemed that Velvet did and the shop's wide selection made her act, well, like a kid in a candy store. This, naturally, lead to Velvet asking if Shirou knew how to make sweets which he admitted that he didn't. He could easily make baked goods but the actual art of candy making was something he never looked into.

The first complication in their day came when they went to check out. Shirou let Velvet go first but the shopkeep simply looked from the bag of candy on the counter to Velvet before giving her a disdainful sniff. "We don't serve your kind here," she said with a sneer.

Velvet gasped and took a half-step back while Shirou took a step forward and glared at the shopkeep. "I want to speak to your manager," Shirou said evenly in a tone that would brook no argument.

"I _am_ the manager. More than that, I'm the owner. We don't serve her kind here. Be grateful that I let your little pet in here at all."

Shirou reacted before he even fully registered what had been said. He took another step toward the counter and placed his left hand on it even as his right hand pulled back in a fist. He was fully intent on leaping over the counter and beating the shopkeep within an inch of her life but the action was stopped almost before it began when Velvet grabbed his wrist in a vice-like grip.

"Shirou, it's okay. Let's just leave," Velvet said in an even voice. Shocked, Shirou looked over to Velvet's lifeless expression even as the shopkeep belatedly reacted to Shirou's advance and stumbled backward.

Shirou examined Velvet's face for a moment before taking a deep breath and sighing. "Very well. The candy here is probably low quality anyway."

Once outside of the store, the pair walked in silence for a moment before Shirou spoke up. "Why didn't you do anything?"

"There's nothing I _can_ do. Letting you assault her wouldn't have solved anything. It would have just gotten you into trouble. This isn't the first time this has happened and it won't be the last, either. This is just a fact of life for me." Velvet gave Shirou a weak but sincere smile. "Thanks for sticking up for me, though," she said as she hugged him. "That makes twice now that you've stood up for me and I can't tell you how nice it is to see it happen."

Emiya Shirou was frozen solid. Every muscle in his body tensed up while his mind refused to work. Velvet was hugging him. A woman was hugging him. Someone was hugging him. A sensation that Shirou hadn't felt in a lifetime was happening. A sensation which Shirou thought he didn't need was happening. A sensation which Shirou didn't deserve was happening. All at once, memories of the disastrous Fifth Holy Grail War came flooding back unhindered.

The last time Saber hugged him after he had run her black form through with Caliburn. The first and last time he got to hug his older sister, Illyasviel von Einzbern, as she died from the strain of using the incomplete Third Sorcery to bind his soul long enough for his body to be healed. The blood-soaked hug of Tohsaka Rin as she bled out after having killed her estranged sister, Matou Sakura. Fujimura Taiga's half-hug as she lay crushed under the remains of the Emiya residence. All of these memories came flooding into his mind in an instant and destroyed all of his barriers.

Just as Velvet began to pull back, thinking she had made a mistake, Shirou's arms wrapped around her and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug as Shirou clung to her like a drowning man would a life preserver. Without thinking, Shirou buried his face into the crook of her neck even as his body began to tremble from the barely restrained sobs and his tears flowed freely. The feelings of sorrow, loss, and self-loathing that he spent hours every morning trying to exorcise had suddenly been brought back in full and it was all he could do to stop himself from breaking utterly.

Velvet, for her part, was shocked beyond words. Shirou had seemed a little odd to her before but what was happening was so far beyond her expectations that she had no idea how to handle it. While she had certainly hoped that Shirou would reciprocate her hug, this was something far deeper and darker than anything she had imagined. She could practically feel the pain radiating from him even as his tears started to soak her sweater and the heightened hearing of her rabbit ears allowed her to hear his heart beating wildly. With her mind not knowing what to do, her instincts took over and she found herself pulling the boy closer as her right hand massaged gentle circles between his shoulder blades and she hummed a song her mother used to sing for her when she was scared as a child.

Needless to say, they were drawing a fair share of odd looks but a particularly fierce glare from Velvet was all it took to make the passers by remain as such. She had no idea how long they stood there but her throat was just starting to hurt by the time Shirou started to calm down. The boy pulled away and wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, the occasional tremor passing through his body as he fought to hold himself together. He took another step back and Velvet was almost afraid that he'd run but instead he bowed so deeply that his torso was parallel to the floor.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice raw with countless emotions.

"It's okay," Velvet replied as she placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him back up. "Come on. I know a place where we can sit and talk for a bit."

As it so happened, the place Velvet took Shirou to was a small cafe. She led Shirou to one of the back corners away from everyone else before going to get them a drink. They sat in silence, slowly sipping away at their drinks for a few moments (green tea for Shirou, caramel macchiato for Velvet), before Velvet decided to break the silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently.

"I'm sorry," Shirou said as he bowed his head and closed his eyes. "Memories that I weren't prepared for came back and I lost control. What I did was inappropriate."

"It's okay," Velvet reassured him. She had no idea why he kept blaming himself for this. "I'm just glad you weren't alone when that happened. Do you want to talk about those memories? It might make you feel better."

Shirou knew that he probably shouldn't tell her anything but it was too late to stop. After his display and using her to comfort himself like he did, he owed her no less than an explanation. So he told her. He told her about being found by Qrow and being taken in by Ozpin. He told her about how the town he's from doesn't exist anymore and how he was the only survivor. He told her about how everyone he ever knew and loved was dead and he had been unable to save anyone. He even went farther than he did with Blake all those months ago. He told her about how his mentor and self-proclaimed older sister both died in his arms. He told her about how his "real" older sister that he had just met died in order to save his life. He even went so far as to tell her about how he had been forced to kill the one he loved above all others.

By the time Shirou was finished, their drinks had long since gone cold. Velvet sat with her eyes squeezed shut as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. She wanted nothing more than to go over to her friend and hug him but she feared that doing so would simply cause another relapse. As if the events he had described weren't bad enough; the detached, emotionless voice he used to describe them tore at her heart. She had thought that Emiya Shirou was a strong, reliable man but, while that remained true, she now saw that the image he presented was just a mask. She saw the broken, tortured soul that lied at Shirou's core and couldn't help the tears of sympathy that came as a result.

Mustering up her willpower to still her nerves, Velvet took a deep breath and leaned over to place one of her hands on top of Shirou's. She looked into his dead eyes and forced herself to give him a reassuring smile. "Thank you for telling me this, Shirou. I can't imagine what you must be going through. I don't know what I can do but if you ever need anything, anything at all, just ask me and I'll do my best to help you," she said, proud that her voice only wavered slightly.

Shirou stared blankly into her eyes for a long moment before giving her a wan smile and nodding, "Thank you."

While the rest of their day out passed without incident, Velvet wouldn't be forgetting what she learned anytime soon. She cared for Shirou to some unknown extent before and the events of today simply deepened that feeling. She knew that he wouldn't actually come to her for anything if he could help it but the offer had to be made. Besides, it wouldn't stop her from doing everything she could to help him out anyway.

Velvet had no idea where all of this could lead but she was determined to follow it to the end.

* * *

A/N: Pretty heavy chapter this time around. We get some altered interactions among Team RWBY due to Shirou's presence, some altered reactions from Ruby due to the Nasuverse merge, and some fully original scenes featuring everyone's favorite bunny girl.

I can't tell you how many revisions the outing with Velvet went through in the planning stage. All kinds of scenes were suggested and then thrown aside. I knew that I wanted to actually show the racism against Faunus more than the show did at this point (it's actually been doing a decent job of that now) and Velvet made the perfect person to do that with since Blake's still hiding her race. There was going to be a scene of Velvet being approached by some racist assholes while Shirou was off getting something and he'd come back to find the goons unconscious on the ground but then I got to the scene of Velvet giving Shirou a hug and Shirou proceeded to suplex me and demand I write what ended up happening so there ya go.

On a side note, Velvet is surprisingly fun to write. There's just some quality to her character that makes her fun to explore. You can definitely expect to see more of her in the future outside of her canon appearances.


	17. V2C4: Investigation Initiation

A/N: Merry Christmas to all!

Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos sighed as she made her way out of Professor Port's class. It was only the first day of the new semester and she was already getting headaches from Professor Port's endless tangents. She would never complain, of course, and the professor's stories were more-or-less all true (Pyrrha had fact-checked a few of them one day) but it didn't make it any less tiring.

Making matters worse was that her winter break had been… interesting, to say the least. Nora and Ren had stayed at Beacon, stating that they really didn't have anywhere else to go, and Pyrrha had also stayed since her family was all the way in Mistral. The surprising part was that Jaune also stayed despite his family living in Vale. The others had tried to get him to go be with his family but he insisted on staying, saying that he wanted to spend time with his team.

With all of that free time on their hands, one of the things Jaune requested was that they spent more time training. It seemed that what happened with Ruby, Blake, and Shirou at the docks made him even more serious about correcting his lack of skill. Their sparring sessions, which had once been fairly casual affairs, were now intense and often went on for several hours until Jaune's Aura finally broke. Pyrrha certainly applauded his dedication and the effort wasn't wasted. The level he was currently at was a lot greater than what he had been previously.

Along with the increased time spent together training also came an increased time spent doing other things together. Whenever they weren't sparring or going over combat theory, they spent time talking about all kinds of things. She learned about his seven sisters and his family's insane dedication to the board game Peril; he learned about her parents and the strict regimens she had to follow pretty much since birth. She learned the story behind Crocea Mors and his grandfather; he learned about the embarrassing incident that lead to her awakening her Semblance.

While all of that had been enjoyable, things had turned somewhat sour just two days prior. After they had finished training for the day and Jaune was laying spread out the floor, he had made the comment that their meeting must have been destiny given how well everything had worked out stating that if Pyrrha hadn't come to Beacon that year, he would have died in the Emerald Forest. While the comment was said in a positive manner, it had instantly destroyed her good mood and it took a concentrated effort to not let Jaune see anything.

Had meeting Jaune been Pyrrha's destiny? She liked Jaune for a lot of reasons and one of them had been how completely normal he was. He was a good person and he had potential but, as far as she could tell, there was nothing special about him. Not like the rest of their team who were hiding something or Team RWBY who were all varying levels of special (mostly in the high ends of "very") or Shirou who was so obviously special that she honestly felt sorry for him. No, Jaune was just a fairly normal guy and that sense of normalcy was something Pyrrha desperately needed.

But what if Jaune was right? What if meeting him _was_ destiny? What if he was just some part in a bigger scheme to make her even more special? What if this sense of normalcy was being granted to her just to make some later event hurt that much more? So many questions raced through Pyrrha's head that it was almost making her dizzy. If meeting Jaune was indeed destiny, that just brought up the one question Pyrrha had been asking herself for years now:

Did she have any control over her life?

Pyrrha had almost always felt that she was destined to become a great Huntress and save the world. While her skills certainly came about from countless hours of hard work, they also came from a large amount of natural talent. Then there was the fact that her Semblance was an incredibly powerful one that could be used to do a lot of good. She had always willingly charged toward this destiny with no real complaints since she felt it was her duty to help people but, as she got older, she couldn't help but wonder if that desire was also destiny.

Did all of the potential good she could do come at the cost of her personal freedom?

Once the idea occurred to her, it never left. Even as she kept marching onward towards her destiny, she wondered if she even had a choice in the matter. That's one of the reasons she enjoyed Jaune's company so much and why she had singled him out as her partner literally the moment she first saw him back during the initiation speech. Someone so completely normal who had complete control of their life was such an attractive concept to Pyrrha that she couldn't help but be drawn to it and, thus, to someone who fit that description.

Even if meeting Jaune _had_ been destiny, Pyrrha didn't regret it. She didn't regret anything she did that led her to her ultimate destiny. All she did was hope that, whatever her destiny was, it didn't result in Jaune getting hurt.

OoOoOoO

Emiya Shirou sighed as he leaned back in his seat. He was currently sitting in Team RWBY's dorm room with the team in question sitting on the bottom beds. It was actually his first time seeing their room and it was simultaneously exactly like what he expected and nothing like what he expected. The entire room was an eclectic mishmash of interests and styles that somehow managed to blend together with the only normal spot being the corner desk by which he sat. The idea to turn the single beds into bunk beds was certainly ingenious but the way they were held up (Ruby's with awkwardly tied rope anchored to the ceiling while Yang's was perched precariously atop a pile of poorly placed books) made him want to be nowhere near them. The fact that all four of them willing slept on or under them for half a year now was both amazing and disturbing.

"So, if I understood what Ruby was telling me correctly, you girls are trying to figure out what Roman and the White Fang are up to and you want my help," Shirou said plainly.

"That about sums it up," Blake said with a nod.

Shirou nodded back, "Very well. Do you have a plan?"

"Wait, you're agreeing just like that?" Weiss asked as she straightened up in surprise. "I expected you to argue that we shouldn't be risking ourselves like this."

"The idea is a bit reckless, I'll admit, but I think I see the reasoning behind it," Shirou began as he started to slip into what he privately called his Tohsaka mode. "Blake used to be a member of the White Fang and thus probably understands them better than most anyone else." Blake nodded in confirmation. "Ruby has encountered Roman multiple times and thus has an idea as to what he's like." Ruby smiled and flashed him a thumbs up. "I do as well, of course, and I also have a general knowledge if his history as a criminal. It also makes perfect sense given both Ruby's stated reason for becoming a Huntress and Blake's past. If those two are going to be investigating this then it's only natural that their partners— and older sister— get roped into it."

"You've got that right," Yang said with a cheeky grin.

"You know, when you put it that way, it makes a lot of sense," Weiss said with a contemplative look.

"He has a way of doing that," Blake commented.

"So, how are you girls planning on doing this?" Shirou asked, bringing the conversation back on topic.

"I've got a friend in the shady part of town that I can hit up. He's pretty minor but he knows basically everything that goes on in Vale," Yang said as she leaned back against the headboard and crossed her legs, her arms crossed behind her head.

Blake shot her partner an annoyed glare as she was forced to scoot further toward the edge but the blonde just responded with a playful wink. "There are White Fang rallies all the time. If I can find one and sneak in, I might be able to find out more about what the White Fang is planning."

Weiss spoke up next, "The fact that the Dust shipment that night was unguarded doesn't make sense. While it's not standard operating procedure, I know my father and there's no way he'd let such a large shipment be left vulnerable given all of the robberies lately. I plan on going to the Cross Continental Transit tower and looking into the matter."

"Couldn't you just call them from your Scroll?" Blake asked with a tilt of her head

"I could but, given the sensitive nature of the documents I'll be requesting, I want the transmission to be as secure as possible."

"I don't really have anything I could do so I'll just go with Weiss since I really want to see the CCT tower up close," Ruby said as she began idly kicking her legs.

"I don't think that'd be a good idea. You don't have the clearance to sit in on the conversation so you'd just be sitting in the lobby while I talked for however long it took," Weiss said, trying her best to look appreciative of the offer.

"Ah, it's okay. I'll feel bad if I do nothing. Maybe I'll give Dad a call while we're there just to say that I did."

"In that case, I'll go with Yang if she'll have me. I also have no contacts in Vale and trying to infiltrate a White Fang rally while not being a Faunus is a risky proposition," Shirou said.

"Hey, the more the merrier! Looks like you'll get to go on a joyride on my bike after all."

"Great!" Ruby exclaimed as she stood up and thrust a fist into the air. "So, when are we doing this?"

"The bar my friend runs doesn't open until after seven so I've got some time to kill. Shirou and I can hit him up tonight," Yang said.

"Oh, you're going to that bar you trashed a bit before school started?" Ruby asked.

"The one and only," Yang said with a smug grin.

"Why do I feel like I'm in for a long night?" Shirou asked himself as he was overcome by a wave of nameless dread.

"Eh, don't worry about it. It'll be fine! He learned his lesson the first time."

"That does not fill me with confidence."

"Moving on," Weiss interjected, "I can go right now, after I get out of my uniform."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Ruby said with a smile.

"White Fang rallies are usually held at night but it'll take me a while to find the exact time and place. It'd be best if I leave now," Blake said before slowly standing up and stretching.

"Perfect! Now that we've got a plan, Operation Investigate Roman and the White Fang is a go!" Ruby said, excitement radiating off of her body.

"Name's a bit on the nose, don't ya think, sis?" Yang said as she rolled off the bed and stood next to her partner, placing her elbow on her shoulder and half-leaning against her.

"Hey, I don't see you coming up with a better name!" Ruby replied, sticking her tongue out at her older sister for good measure.

"The name's fine," Weiss said as she also rose from the bed. "We should get ready so that we can head out as soon as possible."

Team RWBY all turned to look at Shirou, who was still sitting in the chair and watching the proceedings with an amused smile. The seconds ticked by in silence before Shirou realized what was going on and jumped to his feet, his face burning slightly. "Oh! Right! I should leave so you girls can get ready! I should… probably also go get ready."

"Meet me at the port at six!" Yang shouted as Shirou left the room.

Once safely inside his own room, Shirou pulled out his Scroll and sent a message to Ozpin explaining what was about to happen. He'd already gotten pretty much chewed out for not keeping him informed once and he didn't really want to do it again. A few minutes later, the response came in the form of an acknowledgement and instructions to just let events play out.

With his job done, Shirou turned his attention to what constituted his wardrobe. He had noticed Team RWBY buying new outfits the other day so maybe it was time he try on something new as well.

OoOoOoO

The Cross Continental Transmit System was, simply put, a marvel of modern engineering. Consisting of four central towers— one in each kingdom— and countless smaller ones, Atlas' gift to the world as recompense for the Great War allowed for wireless communication between kingdoms to be possible. This advancement, in turn, not only allowed for countless other advances in technology but also helped to usher in a new era of peace as, for the first time, the people of each kingdom were allowed to see the others for themselves and see them as people rather than faceless masses.

The massive importance of the CCT Tower to technology and society was all but lost on Ruby Rose as she approached it with her partner. "Woooow! I forget how big the Transmit tower looks up close!" she said as she looked up to try and see the tower's peak. Vale's CCT Tower was easily the tallest structure in the entire kingdom, being nearly two hundred fifty meters in height.

"You should see the one in Atlas!" Weiss said as they walked along, her boots clacking against the snow-cleared walkway.

"That was the _first_ one, right?" Ruby asked, looking over to her partner.

"Correct."

Seeing as how this was their first time out on the town in a while, Ruby and Weiss (along with Blake and Yang) elected to wear the new outfits they had purchased over winter break. Ruby was wearing a long-sleeve, light gray shirt with black belted cuffs near the ends of the sleeves. Over top of the gray shirt was a black pinafore with two vertical lines of red stitching that resembled the lacing on a corset. Along with that was a red skirt with a large black print of a stylized rose on the side and matching black tulle underneath as well as black stockings and boots. Her ever-present red cloak was there as well; the hood having been wrapped around her neck like a scarf.

Weiss, meanwhile, was wearing a white, double-breasted jacket with black piping, cuffs and buttons over a white, pleated full skirt with black lace trim. Her thigh-high boots were also white with black heels while her stockings were black and lace-topped.

"Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit System to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another. It was their gift to the world after the Great War," Weiss continued.

"It's really cool that you know all this, Weiss," Ruby said in admiration of her partner.

"It's only natural," Weiss said as she positively preened under the praise. "As a Schnee, it's my responsibility to be knowledgeable of every major scientific advancement that can affect the Company."

"Ooooooh, I should get a picture!" Ruby said as she reached for her Scroll. Between her haste and her new outfit, however, she misjudged how far she had to pull out the device and the result was it slipping from her fingers and bouncing across the ground to land near someone's feet.

"Oh!" a familiar voice as Ruby turned to look where her Scroll had fallen. "You dropped this."

" _Penny‽_ "

"Salutations, friend Ruby! Weiss!" Penny said with a jaunty wave as she approached the duo and handed Ruby back her Scroll. Funnily enough, despite the overall drop in temperature, Penny's outfit was the exact same as it had been when they last saw her two months ago.

"Oh my gods, where have you been? We haven't seen you since that night at the docks!"

"It's a long story. Ruby, there's something I need to tell you but not here. Can we go somewhere private?"

"Sure! What about inside the Tower?"

"No, not there. There are cameras everywhere and I really shouldn't be telling you this."

"Wow, this is a really big secret. Sure, I don't mind. What about you, Weiss?" Ruby asked as she turned to her partner who had been silently watching the scene with interest.

"Weiss can come too, if she wants. Friends shouldn't keep secrets from each other."

"My call can wait. I'm interested to see what all of this is about."

"Sen-sational!" Penny said before she gestured for the other two girls to follow her and started walking off.

"Hey, Penny, you wouldn't happen to know anything about what the White Fang are up to in Vale or anything about the guy we fought, would you? That guy's name is Roman Torchwick," Ruby asked.

Penny hummed in thought for a moment, "I wish I could help you, Ruby, but I don't know anything about those men."

"Well, what happened to you that night? We were all together and then you just disappeared!"

"My father picked me up. I've never been to another kingdom before. My father asked me not to venture out too far but… You have to understand, my father loves me very much; he just worries a lot."

Weiss hummed and nodded, "I certainly know what it's like to have a controlling father."

Ruby nodded as well, "I wouldn't really say my dad's controlling but he certainly worries a lot. He nearly had a heart attack when I showed him Crescent Rose." The three girls had a shared chuckle before Ruby continued. "But why not let us know you were okay?"

Penny looked away guiltily, "I... was asked not to talk to you. Or Weiss. Or Blake. Or Yang. Or Shirou. Anybody, really."

"Your father must have been quite upset to go that far," Weiss commented, looking away uncomfortably.

"It wasn't my father, actually—"

Whatever Penny was going to say was cut off as the trio heard an amplified voice coming from nearby. They rounded the corner to see good-sized crowd in various states of bundled up standing before a large, grey platform which was flanked by a few guards. On the platform in the back were six humanoid robots that the trio recognized as the Atlesian Knight 130 series of security robots. The six robots, three on each side, stood guard in front of large, metal storage containers bearing the emblem of Atlas; a spear going up through a shield and surrounded by a circle.

Roughly in the center of the platform was a hologram of General James Ironwood who was currently giving a probably pre-recorded speech. "The AK-130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years and they have done a fine job. Wouldn't you agree? Wouldn't you agree?" Ironwood paused as the crowd started to clap politely and the robots gave a jerky bow. "But… the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and 'fine'…" The doors of the containers started to slowly open. "Well, that's just not good enough, is it? Presenting… the Atlesian Knight-200!"

The doors of the containers fully opened to show off six new robots. Whereas the AK-130 robots had been a metallic grey and blocky, the new AK-200 robots were white and had a much sleeker appearance. They also appeared to be slightly less armored, especially in the stomach, which Ruby thought was an odd decision.

The AK-200 robots kicked over their predecessors to more applause as Ironwood continued. "Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary," The AK-200s flexed to demonstrate the point, "These models will become active later this year but they won't be alone! Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield. However, there are still many situations that will undoubtedly require… a Human touch."

Ruby's curiosity was more than piqued by this point while Weiss was mildly intrigued. Penny, however, seemed a little nervous about something and tried to get the other girls' attention by calling out to them.

"So, our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company," that immediately grabbed Weiss' attention "are proud to introduce… the Atlesian Paladin!"

The hologram of Ironwood shrank down into the projector and in its place came the image of a giant mech; easily three times the size of Ironwood. The color was impossible to tell as the hologram made everything a blueish-white but the mecha was bipedal in design and a bit on the bulky side. Its arms were little more than two massive guns and the entire thing looked to be heavily armored. Needless to say, Ruby was instantly in love.

"Now, we couldn't have him here for you today," Ironwood's disembodied voice continued, "but these mechanized battle suits will be seen defending the borders of our kingdom within the year!"

"Weiss, why didn't you tell me about this thing‽" Ruby complained to her partner.

"I didn't know about it. While I _am_ the heiress, I'm not an official employee so there's still a lot of things I don't know."

"Ruby? Weiss? Maybe we should go somewhere else," Penny said, clearly concerned about something. Over by the platform, one of the guards caught sight of the trio and pointed them out while another one radioed in. Seeing this, Penny turned and made to run but Ruby was already ahead of her. Wrapping one arm around the redhead's shoulders and the other behind her knees, Ruby picked Penny up in a bridal carry and took off running with her Semblance, Weiss skating along not a half-step behind her. Penny weighed _far_ more than she seemed to, however, and the unexpected weight nearly caused her to faceplant into the ground but the weight had been drastically reduced almost as soon as it was noticed. Looking down, Ruby saw purple glyphs forming under her feet as she ran so she gave her partner a thankful smile which Weiss returned with a somewhat strained one of her own.

As the trio zipped down an alleyway, Ruby spied a turn up ahead. Even with Weiss' glyphs stopping them from leaving tracks in the snow, they'd need to do something fancy if they wanted to escape and be given a moment of peace thanks to the trail of rose petals she was leaving because of her Semblance. While making sharp turns with her Semblance was impossible at her current level, an idea quickly formed in Ruby's mind.

Not wanting to shout instructions in case they were overheard and knowing that Weiss was already focusing on her, Ruby quickly gestured to the left with her head. Thankfully, Weiss seemed to pick up on Ruby's plan in an instant as a series of glyphs shot out ahead of her and twisted to form a corner ramp. Deactivating her Semblance, Ruby twisted herself until she was perpendicular to her course and slid along the glyph ramp as though she was skateboarding. The sensation of having gravity change its orientation to keep her planted when she took the sharpest part of the curve was a bit unsettling but she managed to keep her balance.

After successfully taking the corner, Ruby let her momentum carry her along for as long as it was worth it before putting Penny down and running normally down another alley.

"That was sensational!" Penny said excitedly once everyone came to a stop. "You and Weiss work excellently together!"

"Well, we _are_ partners. Besides, Weiss is the one who did most of the work," Ruby said almost dismissively as she rubbed at her slightly sore arms. Looking over at Weiss, the heiress' breathing was a bit heavier than normal but she was otherwise fine.

"Nonsense. Your initiative is what got us here. I just followed your lead," Weiss said. The two partners smiled appreciatively at each other for a moment before Penny clearing her throat brought them out of it.

"So, what is it you wanted to tell us, Penny?" Ruby asked, unsure as to why she could feel her face heating up.

Penny looked around for a moment and listened intently. When it seemed like no one was headed their way, she sighed before turning around to face away from them. "Ruby, Weiss, I'm… not a real girl," she said almost sullenly.

Ruby glanced over at Weiss just to see that the heiress looked as confused as she felt. "What do you mean?"

"Most girls are born but I was made. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura." Penny turned around to face her friends, fear and apprehension clear in her eyes even as she surrendered herself to their judgment. "I'm not real…"

Ruby and Weiss stared in shock for a moment as the enormity of this reveal washed over them. The ability to essentially create life, to create an artificial body and grant it a soul, sounded more like magic than science and yet proof of the contrary was standing before them. Even though she looked fully Human, there was no denying that the feats of strength she had displayed on the docks that night were well beyond what a Human was capable of, even one strengthened by Aura. It also explained the discrepancy between her build and her weight.

Shaking off the shock, Ruby stepped forward and took one of Penny's hands in her own. "Of course you are. You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?" She said, looking intently into the other girl's eyes.

Weiss nodded in agreement, "Regardless of what you are, you're still our friend."

"I don't… um…" Penny looked back and forth between Ruby and Weiss, clearly at a loss for words. "You two are… taking this _extraordinarily_ well."

"I'll admit that this fact is somewhat difficult to wrap my head around since the number of implications are _staggering_ but it doesn't change the fundamental fact that you're you," Weiss said plainly.

"Weiss is right," Ruby said with a nod. "Even if you _are_ a robot, you've still got a heart and soul!"

Penny looked like she was about to break down in tears as she looked between the two girls. Unable to contain her emotions, Penny pulled them into a near bone-crushing bear hug that lifted them off of their feet. "You're the best friends anyone could have!" she said as she rocked them back and forth.

"I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower!" Ruby said with a groan in a rare display of sarcasm. For her part, Weiss wasn't certain if she was about to cry from the pain or the pride she was feeling. Thankfully, Penny was cognizant enough to let them go before things got _too_ bad. As it was, they were already seeing spots.

"Oh, he's very sweet! My father's the one that built me! I'm sure you would _love_ him!"

"What company does your father work for?" Weiss asked once staying conscious no longer required a force of will.

"He doesn't work for any company. He has some assistants but he mostly built me by himself."

"He worked on his own‽ He must be one of the wealthiest men in Atlas if he managed to fund your creation out-of-pocket!"

"Oh, he didn't pay for everything himself. He was backed by the military. That's why Mr. Ironwood helped!"

"The General‽" Ruby exclaimed. "Wait… Is that why those soldiers were after you?"

Penny nodded enthusiastically, "They like to protect me, too!"

"Are you saying that those random soldiers know your secret?" Weiss asked with an incredulous tilt of her head.

"Oh, no, they don't know anything about that. They just know that I'm important and need to be protected."

"They don't think you can protect yourself?" Ruby said with a scoff.

"They're not sure if I'm ready yet…" Penny trailed off for a moment as she appeared deep in thought. "One day, it will be _my_ job to save the world but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world and test myself in the Tournament."

Ruby and Weiss shared a concerned look before Ruby spoke up, "Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world from _what_? We're in a time of peace!"

Penny gave the partners a look that was equal parts confused and concerned, "That's not what Mr. Ironwood said…"

"Check down here!" a masculine voice said from the direction they came, startling all three girls.

"You have to get out of here!" Penny urged them.

"You don't have to go with them! We can help you!" Ruby said urgently even as Weiss stepped forward and created a gravity glyph under them.

"It's okay, Ruby. They're not bad people, I just don't want to get you in trouble. Just _promise_ me you won't tell anyone else my secret. Okay?" Penny said, staring intently into Ruby's eyes.

"I promise," Ruby said reluctantly as Weiss wrapped an arm around her waist. Together, the two girls jumped up and bounded off of another glyph before landing on a nearby rooftop.

As Ruby and Weiss watched Penny talk to the soldiers before being led off, Ruby couldn't help but sigh. Something about Penny's situation just didn't feel right to her but she couldn't see anything she could do. She hated the thought of doing nothing when it seemed like one of her friends needed help but it appeared that nothing was all she _could_ do in this situation.

Seeing the turmoil written all over her leader's face, Weiss gently placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder and offered her what she could only hope was a comforting smile. "Let's get back to the Tower. Maybe you can place a call to your father," she offered gently.

Ruby's return smile was weak but sincere, "Yeah, maybe I'll do that. Thanks, Weiss."

OoOoOoO

Ruby let out a quiet "Wow" as she and Weiss entered into Vale's Cross Continent Transmit Tower. While she had been in it a couple of times in the past when her dad needed to call someone, she never got tired of seeing it. The light coming from the edges of the floor cast everything in the circular room in a pale green parlor and the way the central pillar platform rose off the ground and was surrounded by a circle of light made it look like a floating island. The place was relatively empty with only a few other people around but that was to be expected. Aside from the information terminals that lined the central pillar, this room only served to lead to the elevators and other rooms.

Moving past the central pillar, Ruby and Weiss entered the elevator on the far side of the room. "Communications room," Weiss said in a clear voice once the door closed, the computer beeping to acknowledge the command before the elevator started moving. Given how tall the tower was, it took a solid minute for it to reach its destination at the top. As they waited, Ruby looked over to her partner and watch curiously as she visibly steeled herself.

"Expecting a tough talk?" Ruby asked as she continued to study her partner's serious expression.

"Somewhat," Weiss said with a small sigh. "With any luck, I can call headquarters, speak with a secretary, and get everything sorted out."

"Why not call your dad? He's the head of the company, isn't he?" Ruby asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"My father…" Weiss looked off to the side and bit her bottom lip for a moment, "My father and I don't exactly see eye-to-eye on a number of things. He didn't approve of me coming to Beacon."

"I can't say I get it but whatever makes you feel comfortable," Ruby said as she returned her attention to the floor number display.

Weiss let out a small sigh, relieved that it didn't look like Ruby was going to press the issue. While she had opened up more to her young leader more than anyone else in recent memory, her family remained a touchy subject that she didn't want to think too much about. Maybe one day she'd tell her about all of that but certainly not today.

As the door opened with a soft "ding", Ruby and Weiss exited into the Tower's communication room. As would be expected, the room was filled with computer terminals to facilitate transcontinental communications. Not only did they line nearly the entire circumference of the room, there was also a rough three-by-three grid splayed out in the center with each desk containing six computers. Being at the top of the tower, the room was also lined with large windows spanning nearly floor-to-ceiling that gave a spectacular view of the city.

Ruby and Weiss made their way to the reception desk near the front center of the room, a holographic woman appearing behind it as they got close.

"Welcome to the Beacon Cross Continental Transmit center. How may I help you?" the hologram asked pleasantly.

Weiss gestured towards Ruby so the younger girl spoke first. "I'd like to place a call to Taiyang Xiao Long in Patch, please!"

"Absolutely. Could you please verify your identity?" Ruby took out her Scroll and pulled up her Virtual Identification Card before placing it in a special slot on the desk. "Excellent. If you could head over to Terminal 3, Miss Rose, I'll patch you through."

"Thank you!" Ruby said before giving her partner a reassuring smile and walking off. Weiss waited for a moment for the virtual intelligence to continue.

"Welcome to the Beacon Cross Continental Transmit center. How may I help you?" the hologram repeated.

"I need to make a call to Schnee Dust Company World Headquarters in Atlas."

"Absolutely. Could you please verify your identity?" Weiss did the same as Ruby. "Excellent. If you could head over to Terminal 4, Miss Schnee, I'll patch you through."

Thanking the hologram out of habit, Weiss made her way to her assigned terminal, ignoring the other people present. Somewhat regrettably, there was a man on Terminal 5 to her right and Ruby was on Terminal 3 directly across from her which complicated matters slightly but she'd just have to make it work. So long as she didn't openly discuss company secrets, it should be fine.

Weiss took a seat and sighed deeply before starting the call. On the monitor appeared a short-haired brunette working away at her computer, the Schnee family emblem slowly rotating behind her.

"Thank you for calling the Atlas—" the woman, her name tag identified her as Lisa, looked up and let out a surprised sound at the sight of who she was talking to. "Oh! Miss Schnee! Good afternoon! Would you like me to patch you through to your father? I think your sister Winter might be here as well."

"No, thank you!" Weiss said with a somewhat forced smile. "I was just wanting to make an inquiry."

"Absolutely! What can I help you with, Miss Schnee?"

"Are you familiar with the attempted robbery of a shipment of Dust from the Schnee Dust Company at Vale's shipping yard about two months ago?"

Lisa hummed in thought for a moment, "I recall hearing about it but I don't know many details other than that the White Fang were involved and they were stopped by a group of students."

"Excellent. I was wondering why the Schnee Dust Company didn't hire any security for such a large shipment given the rash of Dust robberies that had occurred earlier. If you would be so kind as to send the SDC's transaction report for that month, I'd be ever grateful."

"Of course! That certainly is an excellent question. Do you mind telling me what you're looking for?" Lisa asked as she worked away at her computer.

Weiss placed her Scroll into a slot next to her keyboard that connected it to the computer. "Just any discrepancies. I know Father and there's no way he would be that unprepared."

"Well, there you are. Those should be the files you requested." Weiss' Scroll beeped in notification as she removed it from the dock and began glancing over the files to make sure nothing was missing. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Not right now, thank you. I may call back momentarily, however, depending on what I find."

"Of course. I'll be sure to keep my line clear for you for the next hour."

"Thank you very much. Have a great day."

Weiss ended the call and immediately turn her attention back to her Scroll. While transaction reports always made for dry reading, her Father's training made her more than used to such tasks. Nothing seemed out-of-place until she reached the entry regarding payment to an entity listed as Steele Securities Inc. A quick search on her Scroll revealed that, as the name implied, they were a security firm that specialized in guard detail and had a good reputation. With their contact information in hand, Weiss tapped on an icon on the computer screen to call up the VI and placed a call.

"Thank you for calling Steele Securities where your protection is our gain. How may I help you?" The person who answered the call was, interestingly enough, a male Faunus. His dark, scaled skin marked his as some form of reptile but Weiss couldn't guess beyond that.

"Yes, my name is Weiss Schnee, daughter of Jacque Schnee and heiress to the Schnee Dust Company," Weiss said formally as she sent over her proof of identity. "It has come to my attention that, approximately two months ago, your company was hired to protect a large shipment of Dust traveling by ship from Atlas to Vale. However, when that ship arrived, your company was nowhere to be seen nor were they present when said shipment was nearly stolen. I am calling to inquire as to the reason for your company's failure of duty."

The Faunus man blinked in shock for a few moments before recollecting himself, even though his nervousness was still evident in the mild tremor in his voice. "Ah, yes, right. I'm afraid I can't answer that but, if you'll give me a moment, I'll gladly transfer you to someone who can."

"Of course. Take your time."

The image changed to a generic one of the company's logo as Weiss relaxed in her chair slightly. So far, this had been going fairly well but she couldn't help but feel a bit on edge about the whole matter. This wasn't just some class project, after all, she was investigating a potentially serious criminal matter. Not only had she never done anything like this before, business negotiations (which is what her brain was apparently classifying this as) always left her vaguely nervous. Couple that with the fact that she might end up having to deal directly with her father and that made for a very on edge Weiss.

As she sat back in her chair with her eyes closed, Weiss couldn't help but overhear Ruby talking to her father on the other side of the small screen between them. While she couldn't see the other girl and didn't feel like concentrating enough to make out what she was saying, her leader's upbeat, energetic voice was enough to act as a sort of balm for her nerves. She let herself sink into that feeling for a moment but, before she could question it, a beep from her computer snapped her back to reality. She straightened her posture and put on a neutral smile just in time for the screen to change.

"G'day, Miss Schnee. Name's Oliver Steele." The man that appeared on the screen was a very rough looking, middle-aged man with combed back, grey-flecked black hair and goatee. He looked more like someone ready to go out for a five-mile hike than someone running a business but Weiss figured that, in this case, an exception could be made. "Secretary said you had an issue with my company?"

"I wouldn't necessarily call it an issue, I was just curious as to why your men weren't present when we had hired you."

"Well, that'd be because ya didn't. A few days after you blokes hired us, you called back and canceled the contract."

"We did what? Why would we do that?"

"That's what I wanted ta know. The bloke on the phone said that you lot had something else worked out."

"So, we canceled the contract and you didn't issue a refund?"

"What are you talkin' about? We issued a refund right away," the man said, becoming slightly offended.

"If you did, it's not our records," Weiss replied, quickly scanning through them again just to be sure.

"Well, it sure as bloody hell is on ours. Sounds like you've got yourself a clerical error."

"It seems we do. Thank you for your time and I apologize for the inconvenience."

"It's quite alright. Just be sure to keep us in mind next time ya need something protected."

"I'll be sure to do that. Have a good day, Mister Steele."

"You too, Miss Schnee."

Weiss leaned back in her chair and sighed as the call ended. Something strange was going on here but she just couldn't figure out what it was. Who would the SDC cancel their contract with Steele Securities when a replacement hadn't been found? Why wasn't the refund listed in the records if it happened a few days after the purchase and thus within the same month? It just raised too many questions.

Just as Weiss reached out to place another call to the SDC, a voice from her left made her jump slightly. "How's it going, Weiss?" Ruby said as she rounded the desk to her partner's side.

"Oh! Ruby! It's going… well, I suppose. I still have at least one more call to make, though. Are you finished talking with your father?"

"Yep! I told him all about what's been going on and about you and Blake and Shirou and everyone else! Things have been fine in Patch, too. Since you're still busy, I'm just gonna wait outside, okay?"

"Okay. I'll try not to take too long."

"Take your time! We're in no hurry. I'll see you when you get done!"

Weiss watched Ruby as she walked off for a moment before turning her attention back to the computer and placing another call to the SDC.

"Oh, Miss Schnee! I'm glad you called back. Did you find anything?" Lisa asked as soon as the call connected.

"As a matter of fact, I did," Weiss said before going over what she had discovered.

Lisa hummed in thought, "That's certainly suspicious. I was also doing some digging of my own and have the name of the employee who was responsible for hiring security. Going through their records now, I can see where the second call was placed."

"What about the refund?"

"It should have been listed on that file I sent you but let me… No, it's not listed on next month's, either. As far as I can tell, we have no record of the refund."

Weiss was silent for a moment as she mulled the possibilities over in her mind. "Do you think this was planned?"

"Are you suggesting that we have a White Fang mole?"

"It wouldn't be the first time."

Lisa hummed. "It's entirely possible. I feel like we've gone as far with this as we can. It should be brought to your father's attention immediately. Do you want me to patch you through to him?"

Weiss fought back a grimace at the idea and kept her face carefully neutral, "No, I have other matters I need to attend to. If you could pass this information along to him, I'd greatly appreciate it. While you're at it, pass along a bonus request under my recommendation."

"Thank you very much, Miss Schnee!" Lisa said as her face lit up. "I hope you have a pleasant day!"

* * *

A/N: So, about those other changes I made that I mentioned in V2C1. The location of the CTT tower is one of them. I find its location in canon to be nonsensical given that it's a public building and Beacon is a private school. Then there's the small town around it that we never see signs of whenever we see a distant shot of Beacon. It also means that Ruby and Weiss freaking teleported in order to arrive at the highway for the Paladin fight. Either that or Blake was running for hours (which has other problems since Yang was right behind them on her motorcycle). Given all of that, I moved the tower to downtown Vale. This, naturally, means that some other small changes had to be made which led to a bit of a headache as I tried to get everything to work.

But hey, I'm pretty sure I got everything to work and make sense and it gave me a chance to do some more minor worldbuilding which is always nice.

Anyway, once again, Merry Christmas to all! I hope you all have a wonderful day (or had a wonderful day, for those reading it after the fact). To those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful day, too! I'll see you all next week!


	18. V2C5: Rowdy Rumble

A/N: Happy New Year to all those reading this when it was posted!

Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

Yang Xiao Long sighed to herself, the puff of visible breath whisked away as Bumblebee roared down the streets of Vale, the streetlights casting a faint yellow parlor over snow on the sides of the road. She normally enjoyed late-night rides since it was the perfect chance to just turn her mind off and focus on the rush of riding her bike but this time was different. This time, she found herself far too distracted by her thoughts to just focus purely on the thrill. As it was, her body was basically on auto-pilot as she made her way to the more dilapidated parts of town, paying only enough attention to avoid any crashes.

Chief among Yang's distractions was one Emiya Shirou who was currently sitting behind her, his arms wrapped securely around her waist but still leaving enough space between their bodies to be polite. The young man had been a bit of a mystery from day one with his somewhat peculiar nature and that complicated smile and that mystery had only deepened over the past few months. He was a nice enough guy and Yang didn't have any major problems with him but there was always something about him that she couldn't figure out. It was like she was looking at a puzzle that was missing some pieces.

To make matters somewhat worse, it seemed that Blake had found some of those pieces and now, if Yang was reading things properly, she'd say that her partner had a crush on Shirou. The fact that Blake willingly spent three whole days alone with him in his apartment aside, Yang didn't miss the way Blake had been hanging around Shirou more often than usual lately. Whether it be when he needed a partner for a class or when they were studying, Blake was using just about every excuse she could find to be near the guy. As her partner, this annoyed Yang for two reasons: One, this made it rather difficult to get to know her partner better. Two, she _still_ couldn't tell if Blake really liked him or not. All of the usual signs were there, yeah, but it still just felt like she was missing something and it drove her up a wall.

As if that wasn't bad enough, it was clear as day that Yang's little sister, Ruby, had a massive crush on him as well. This started up a bit after the incident at the docks where, from what Yang could tell, Shirou basically stole her heart with his heroics (Ruby had certainly poured on the praise and described his actions with gushing excitement when she recounted the events). This didn't really surprise Yang given her little sister's ideals and how Shirou seemed to share them. While she hoped that things worked out for her, more than anything, she hoped that Ruby's first shot at love would break her out of her shell more. For someone as outgoing as Ruby is, it's almost amazing how socially awkward and sometimes even shy she could be. While she hadn't done anything overt to woo Shirou yet, her infatuation was obvious given all of the little things such as how Shirou always had her undivided attention when he spoke, how she referenced him often, and how Yang sometimes caught her just idly looking at him.

This all led back to the great mystery that was Emiya Shirou since, for the life of her, Yang had no idea how Shirou felt about basically anything, let alone Blake and Ruby. As far as Yang could tell, Shirou hasn't even so much as _noticed_ Blake's interest, for how obvious her advances were. He just regarded the Faunus with the same gentle smile he usually wore when talking to basically anyone. Shirou had his emotions under such a tight lockdown that, despite Yang's not inconsiderable skill, she absolutely couldn't get a read on him. For all Yang could tell, Shirou and Blake could very well be macking on each other between classes. At the very least, she was certain they weren't boning since there's no way Blake would be able to sufficiently hide that from her.

Regardless, all of this left Yang in the rare position of not knowing what she should do. Usually, she just went with her gut on basically everything and never second-guessed herself but now her usual gut instinct was totally silent. She absolutely wanted to support Ruby and her little sister could certainly do a lot worse for a first crush (even if Shirou didn't return her feelings, he'd certainly let her down gently and not string her along) but she also wanted to support her partner and she'd rather subtly steer Ruby away from Shirou if he and Blake were already a thing. Frankly, if she had to guess, Yang would say that Blake would be more Shirou's type anyway. Even though they shared an ideal, the quiet, studious, brooding type seemed more up Shirou's alley. Of course, she could just come out an ask Shirou point blank to answer all of these questions but she refrained from doing so since figuring it out on her own was more fun.

All of those thoughts were pushed from Yang's mind, however, when she finally arrived at her destination and pulled up in front of a somewhat dilapidated building. Being near the outskirts of the city proper, the area was more than a little dirty and rundown; not at all helped by the dim streetlights casting elongated shadows that made the place feel sullen and abandoned. Even the snow, worn as it was from the foot traffic, seemed to lose its usual luster in this place's atmosphere.

Getting off of her bike, Yang removed her yellow helmet and shook out her long, curly, golden hair. Like the rest of her team, she was also sporting a new look. She wore a deep-collared cream vest over a low cut black shirt; both covered by a dark gray shrug with a raised collar, three-quarter sleeves adorned with a single black stripe down the outside of each sleeve, and gold cuffs. A black miniskirt worn under the cream vest complimented the thigh high stockings attached to it by garter-belts on the front and back of each thigh, decorated with four golden studs above her knee and her emblem, a fiery heart, on the outside of each thigh in gold. A pair of crooked black belts with gold accents were slung around her hips with a purple length of fabric attached to the left-rear section of the lower belt. Black ankle boots with multiple buckles and white ribbons on the back tied in a bow finished off her ensemble with a purple pendant set in silver and her aviators topping things off nicely.

"Come on, my friend's right in here!" Yang said to Shirou as she gestured toward the door of a nearby building.

Emiya Shirou, for his part, also had a new outfit. Apparently, this was the one bought for him by Coco when they went out two months ago. His armor was still there but the heavy steel cuirass was replaced with a hard leather one dyed to match the other pieces and the gauntlets and faulds were gone, the former replaced by black, fingerless gloves. Underneath the armor, he wore a dark grey, long sleeved, hooded shirt that was accented with gold which was accompanied by black pants that were tucked into boots that came halfway up his calves and were the same silver-white color as his armor. Since he lacked a helmet, he opted to pull his hood up and keep his head down which revealed the royal blue interior of his shirt. Strapped to his left hip and back were his sword and quiver, respectively.

"Where, exactly, _is_ 'here'?" Shirou asked as he lowered his hood and got off the bike.

"Junior's bar," Yang answered as she led her friend onward. "I paid him a little visit before school started since he had some info I wanted and we've been friends ever since."

"Why do I get the feeling that there's more to this story than you're telling me?" Shirou asked as he let his left hand come to a rest on his sword's hilt. At this point, techno music could be heard coming from the building they were approaching.

"Don't worry about it! It'll be fine! Just know that things _might_ get a little hairy at first but you shouldn't do anything unless bullets start flying!"

"Wait, bullets? Yang, what are you—" Shirou's concern was ignored as Yang readied Ember Celica and punched the door open, the explosive shotgun round aiding her by very nearly blowing the door off of its hinges. The boisterous blonde boldly strode in as some guy in a three-piece looked at her with what can only be called absolute horror. He immediately ran deeper inside, screaming for his life, as Shirou could practically _feel_ himself sweatdrop.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Yang asked over her shoulder before continuing onward like everything was perfectly fine. Shirou could only sigh and shake his head before following after her.

OoOoOoO

"I don't know!" Junior said as he put down his glass and took a seat on the other side of the bar from Yang and Shirou. The trip inside the bar had been borderline disastrous with numerous people pointing guns directly at Yang's face after she blew open the doors leading to the club proper but the boss called them off.

Hei "Junior" Xiong was a massive man, standing at 211 centimeters, with short, black hair and a sharp goatee and mustache with sideburns. He was stockily built and his clothes were of a fairly high quality given the average appearance of his place of business. He would normally be a fairly impressive and possibly even intimidating man if it weren't for the way he was practically bending over backward to give Yang what she wanted.

"How can you not know where Roman is?" Yang asked, a little heat mixing with her confusion.

"I haven't talked to him! I haven't even _seen_ him since the night you first came in here!" Junior leaned over the bar to point directly in Yang's face. For her part, Yang was completely unperturbed by this invasion of her personal space. "He paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever. Came. Back."

"Do you know where they went?" Shirou asked.

Junior stared at him incredulously for a long moment. "What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back!"

"Are you in the habit of lending out your men without any idea of where they're going or what they're doing?"

"Listen, pal, I run a strict 'no questions asked' business here. You show up, hand over enough money, and I let you have my men for however long you paid for. This gives me deniability and helps keep my clients safe. Who even is this guy, anyway?" Junior asked Yang.

"Don't worry about him; worry about _me_ if I don't find out what I want!"

"I already told you everything! Torchwick hired my boys and I guess he wasn't happy with them. Which is _something I can relate to!"_ He shouted the last part at his own men who were loitering nearby. They all grumbled and steadily dispersed.

Yang hummed before walking away from the bar, "Come on, Shirou."

"Well, that turned out to be a waste of time," Shirou commented as they headed toward what remained of the door.

"Yeah. Hopefully, the rest of the team is having better luck."

OoOoOoO

Deep in Vale's warehouse district, close to the edge of town, Blake Belladonna examined three carefully made scratches on the wall before peering around the corner to see two horned Faunus being ushered into the building by a bearded man. It had taken her most of the day but she had finally managed to track down one of the White Fang's recruitment rallies.

Just like the rest of her team, Blake was also sporting a new look. Although, unlike the others, she decided to try for a bit of symbolism with her color palette. She wore a white, v-neck, zip-up crop shirt with a black hem and three-quarter sleeves and her emblem, a stylized flower, printed in off-white on the left side. She also wore black pants that had a vertical gray stripe on the outer side of each leg and a black belt. Attached to the rear of the belt was a black piece of fabric that covered her from hip-to-hip, underneath which was a longer, translucent, purple piece of fabric. Black high-heeled boots that reached to mid-calf and had two straps and buckles as well as purple undersoles rounded out the outfit. Just like her old outfit, she had black ribbons wrapped around her forearms and she still wore her black bow but it was currently absent.

All in all, Blake quite liked her new outfit but it left her midriff exposed which was a design decision she was currently regretting. While she had a thing for exposed midriffs, the middle of winter was not a good time to be giving in to that particular fetish.

Walking forward, Blake nodded to the man guarding the door and entered the warehouse. She was instantly met with a couple of White Fang members if full uniform. "Continue down the hall and take a right. Keep on till the end and take a left. Oh, and be sure to wear this," one of them instructed as she handed Blake a Grimm mask.

Blake continued on as she examined the mask. Even though they were practically synonymous with the White Fang, they were actually a relatively recent addition. The idea to wear them had come from _that man_ who said that they served a symbol to use against the Humans. If the Humans thought the Faunus to be monsters, then they'd don the guise of monsters. Blake had agreed with _that man's_ reasoning, as she always had, and almost proudly wore a mask of her own. It wasn't until she asked Sienna Khan why she didn't wear one that Blake started to rethink things. Sienna had said that she refused to play the part of the monster, to give Humans the satisfaction of thinking that they're right. That was the moment that had started Blake on the path she walked now as she had never worn one of those masks since.

With a sigh, Blake donned the mask.

The main room of the warehouse was filled with members of the White Fang. Blake couldn't possibly count them all but a rough estimate put them numbering at least seventy or so and that wasn't counting the about thirty new recruits who were standing off to the right. All of them were gathered before a large stage where a White Fang lieutenant was organizing everyone. Behind the lieutenant was a very large something covered by a black tarp emblazoned in blood-red with the White Fang's logo; a wolf's head in front of three diagonal claw marks. Blake had no idea what could be underneath that tarp but, whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"Thank you all for coming," the lieutenant began once the doors were shut. "For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!"

Out from behind the large object stepped the second-to-last person Blake wanted to see right now. "Thank you, thank you!" Roman Torchwick said mockingly as he waved to the crowd that almost immediately started jeering. The woman Shirou and Ruby had fought, Neo, silently followed after him. "Please, hold your applause!"

"What's a _Human_ doing here‽" an antlered Faunus standing in front of Blake asked, pointing accusingly at Roman.

"I'm glad you asked, 'deerie'!" Roman answered in a mock jovial tone. "Now, I'll be the first to admit, Humans… are the worst." Roman gave a little salute while saying "Case in point" before he started to slowly pace back and forth, gesticulating as he spoke. "So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away or, better yet, _killed!"_ Blake glared at Roman in confusion from beneath her mask. She had no idea where he was going with this but she couldn't help but feel a sense of danger start to slowly rise within her.

" _But_ , before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I _all_ have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten Humans that run our kingdoms." As Roman continued to talk, members of the crowd started to agree with him. "Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life." Roman paused as the crowd started to actively cheer.

Blake looked around nervously, that feeling of danger rising by the second along with a sense of revulsion. While Blake was all for Humans and Faunus working together, the current White Fang absolutely was not. They didn't want to stand alongside Humanity as equals, they wanted to stand _above_ Humanity as superiors. The White Fang had been a group founded around an ideal that Humans and Faunus could live together in harmony through love and kindness. Over the years, that ideal got twisted into living with them as equals based on fear. Yet now even that twisted ideal was being casually thrown away because it was convenient and because the Human that they should hate was saying words they liked. Was this what the White Fang had truly become? Just a gang lashing out in hatred and anger that believed in nothing but their own self-righteousness that, even to themselves, was worthless?

After the cheering died down a bit, Roman continued, "And they're all _pests_ that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around… No offense to any rodents in the room." Roman snapped his fingers and the tarp was quickly pulled away to reveal a massive robot that was loaded down with weaponry and had the White Fang logo painted on its side. At the sight of it, the crowd went absolutely ballistic, their cheers echoing off of the walls to create such a loud sound that Blake, and other Faunus with similar traits, winced in pain as her cat ears pressed themselves flush against the top of her head to try and protect themselves.

Once again, Roman waited for the cheers to die down before continuing. "As some of you may have heard, this right here," he tapped on the mech, "is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my 'employer', we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, 'hit the shelves.' Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine… But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?"

As the White Fang cheered and Roman smirked, Blake knew that it was time she left. She had seen enough and she was fairly certain that one of those mechs was _way_ more than what she and her team were prepared for. She just needed to slip out, contact everyone, and hand over this information to, say, Professor Ozpin. While she wanted to handle this herself to try and atone for her sins, she wasn't feeling particularly suicidal.

"Will all new recruits please come forward!" the lieutenant said, instantly destroying Blake's fantasy as the smaller crowd surged forward and carried her with them. Getting out without drawing attention to herself was no longer possible and remaining successfully hidden was becoming increasingly unlikely. Roman would almost certainly recognize her if he saw her and he absolutely would see her if she went with the crowd to stand right in front of the stage. She couldn't even try to hide behind the taller members of the crowd since that would just make the proper members of the White Fang suspicious.

As the crowd pushed her closer and closer to her doom, Blake chewed on her bottom lip and rapidly cast her eyes about the room, desperately searching for a way out of this situation. A quick glance at Roman revealed that he was now looking her way and frowning. She was running out of time. Any second now and her cover would be completely blown. Just as she was about to throw caution to the wind and start booking it, she finally caught a glimpse of what might be her salvation: the circuit breaker. While it wouldn't bother the Faunus much, it _would_ hinder Roman which just might buy her enough time.

Blake quickly drew the katana half of Gambol Shroud and transformed it into a gun before firing several shots into the circuit breaker. There was a sharp sound of metal-on-metal as the bullets hit their mark and the entire warehouse was suddenly thrown into total darkness. Even as Roman called out for someone to stop her, Blake vaulted over the crowd, using some of them as stepping stones as she rushed to the window and dove through it. She faintly heard the sound of something starting up as she did so but prayed that it didn't mean what she thought it meant even as she discarded the Grimm mask and started running for her life across the rooftops.

The sound of a wall being destroyed not too far behind her utterly dashed Blake's hopes for a clean getaway. As she kept on running from the hulking robot chasing after her, Blake pulled out her Scroll and hit the emergency call button that would broadcast her location to her team. With backup now on the way, Blake quickly considered her location before making her way towards a better venue for what promised to be the toughest fight of her life.

OoOoOoO

Elsewhere in Vale, Ruby and Weiss sat side-by-side at a small cafe, cups of hot cider nearby as they went over their classwork and waited for word from their teammates. It had been a really enjoyable, relaxing time for the two of them and had been something they didn't know they needed until they had done it. The pair had just agreed to do this again sometime when their Scrolls started blaring at them. A quick glance to see the distress signal from Blake and they were off in a flash, ready to save their teammate from whatever trouble she had gotten herself into.

OoOoOoO

Yang had just mounted Bumblebee, her helmet not even fully on her head yet, when her Scroll went off. Checking it, her eyes went wide as she saw the distress signal. "Quick, get on!" she barked as Shirou. "Blake's in—" Yang's explanation was cut off by a distant-yet-rapidly-approaching thumping. They both looked down the street to see Blake jump across the rooftops with a giant mech that Shirou vaguely recognized as the Paladin Atlas had just announced in hot pursuit.

No more words were needed as Shirou got on the motorcycle in what must have been record time and Yang forwent putting her helmet on fully to just start up her bike and gun it down the road. Her partner was in danger and Yang would be damned if she let her face it without her.

OoOoOoO

Blake stumbled as she hit the ground off her Semblance's high-speed movement, her shadow clone being utterly destroyed as the Paladin's fist transited through the space it existed in. She had run quite a ways from the warehouse and the constant dead sprint coupled with the acrobatics and Semblance use had left her more than a little tired but her goal was finally in sight. Putting on one last burst of speed, Blake ran forward into a construction site and didn't stop until she hit a half-finished wall.

The construction site Blake now found herself in was located further in from the warehouse district but it served as the perfect battleground against the large mecha. At this time of night, the workers had long since gone home, destroying an unfinished building was nowhere near as bad as destroying one currently in use, and it was located on a relatively large patch of empty land so collateral damage could be kept to a minimum. She honestly had no idea what the building was going to be but she hoped that whoever owned it wouldn't mind its completion being delayed.

Blake turned back to face Roman as he slowly advanced in the Paladin, her weapons drawn and ready even as she fought to steady her breathing. She had made it to her destination and now she just needed to hold out until the rest of her team could show up. That shouldn't be too difficult, right?

"Well, well, kitty cat. Looks like you've reached the end of the line," Roman taunted as he leveled one of the Paladin's guns at Blake. "Why don't we find out if Cat Faunus have nine lives?"

Blake readied her Semblance to try and dodge the shot when a faint sound in the distance caused one of her cat ears to twitch even the proximity alarm went off in the Paladin's cockpit. Roman started to turn the Paladin around to look but Blake saw a streak of silver hit the center of the Paladin's back, the subsequent explosion causing it to stagger forward. Looking past the Paladin that was starting to turn around again, Blake could see a very distinctive motorcycle and its blonde rider coming up fast even as a familiar redhead bailed to the side.

"Get away from my partner!" Yang roared as a wave of yellow light passed over Bumblebee. She stood in a crouch on the seat of the bike and, at the perfect moment, turned to face the opposite direction before used the handlebars as a pivot to flip over the front of her bike. With a roar of effort, she lifted her bike up off the ground and twisted in midair to face the Paladin before slamming Bumblebee's back wheel into the top of the cockpit. Yang then gunned the accelerator and let her bike go careening away before using her momentum to send a shotgun-blast-enhanced punch right in front of Roman's startled face.

While this was going on, Shirou ran up to Blake's side, his nameless weapon back in sword form. "Are you alright?" he asked with a worried glance even as he readied himself to fight.

"Never better," Blake replied after she got her breathing back under control. "Thanks for the save."

"No need to thank us," Yang called out as she dashed between the Paladin's legs and came to join them, standing on Blake's left opposite of Shirou. "There's no way I could leave my favorite pussycat alone."

"I guess today's my lucky day," Roman said as he brought the Paladin back around, turning much quicker than he had before. "Here I thought I was just going to remove one thorn in my side but, instead, I get to remove two _and_ get a freebie on top! I've had fun playing with you, kiddies, but play time's over." With that declaration, two panels, one on each of the Paladin's shoulders, opened up to reveal missile launchers which immediately sent a salvo of missiles at them.

Shirou watched as ten missiles headed straight for them and his mind went into overdrive. It was almost like time slowed down as he released the hammer in his head and brought the image of Rho Aias to the forefront of his mind. There was no way they would be able to fully dodge this many blasts and he had no idea if their Auras could withstand that much firepower so this was his only choice. It wouldn't be perfect since the missiles were too widespread for the Ultimate Shield to block them all but he'd be able to stop some of them. He only wished he had the time to get Blake and Yang behind him.

It was then that Shirou noticed something odd. He had released the hammer in his head but the spiritual change that signaled his transition into a magus had yet to happen. Not only that but his mouth, which should have been moving to say the spell to hypnotise himself in order to allow that change, wasn't moving. As he examined the situation, he realized that it wasn't _as if_ time had slowed down but rather it had _actually_ slowed down to an almost imperceptible crawl. After making that realization, Shirou's eyes finally noticed the odd pattern on the ground that hadn't been there an instant before. It was like a black, ornate clock face; the numbers marked by Roman numerals and the hands moving very slowly.

Turning his attention back to the missiles, Shirou watched as several sparks of light came into view; a very large one followed by several smaller ones. As they entered the area of effect, they all quickly slowed to a stop in this near-frozen time, their path through the air marked by odd contrails, and Shirou could see that they were perfectly aimed to take down the missiles.

The glyph beneath their feet disappeared, time resumed its normal flow, and the missiles were all instantly destroyed, harmless shards of ice mixing in with the explosions.

"Sorry we're late!" Ruby said as she and Weiss came to land next to Yang.

"Honestly, I'd say you're just in time," Blake remarked as she visibly relaxed slightly.

"Wow, sis. You and Weiss sure know how to enter with a _bang_!" Yang said with a cheeky grin.

"Is that Roman? Why's he in a Paladin?" Weiss asked, completely ignoring Yang.

"Oh, great, it's Red again. You know, you're really starting to get on my nerves, Red! You have this really bad habit of showing up just as I'm about to win!" Roman snapped as he extended the knives on the underside of the Paladin's gun arms and switched to close-range mode.

Ruby was torn between anger at Roman for trying to hurt her friends and glee at getting to fight a Paladin. She had no idea how he managed to get his hands on one but, regardless, she was glad that she had read up on them a bit. "A hero always shows up right on time!" she countered.

"You fancy yourself a hero, huh? Well then, little miss hero, how about you—"

"Scatter!"

"Wha?"

(A/N: Play "Red Sun" from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance)

At Ruby's command, everyone took off in different directions, Ruby herself charging headlong at the Paladin in a flurry of rose petals. She took a swipe at the back of its legs as she passed between them and frowned even as Blake came from above with a double slash down its back before retreating.

"I don't get it!" Yang said as she came from the side to nail it in one of its leg joints with a right hook. "Why aren't our attacks doing anything‽" She backpedaled as the Paladin started moving and turned to the side to just barely dodge the thrust of one of its knives before meeting its fist with a powerful right cross. The impact's shockwave disturbed Yang's hair and clothes even as the force made her skid backward a few inches.

"It's Aura!" Ruby answered as she helped Yang. She charged at the extended arm and lept over it before latching onto it with Crescent Rose and using both her momentum and the recoil of her shots to pull the arm away. "Paladins can amplify their pilot's Aura for offense and defense!"

"How do you know that?" Blake asked as she swung by to grab Yang and pull her out of the way before tossing her toward the unfinished wall. Yang landed on the side of the wall and prepared herself by crossing her arms in front of her face as Blake detached Gambol Shroud from the steel beam it was connected to and twisted her body to land on Yang's arms parallel to the floor. Blake quickly launched herself, assisted by Yang, toward the Paladin and raked it across its side with a series of high-speed spinning slashes. Blake bled out her momentum as she hit the ground by throwing out her right foot to drag along the ground, a ring of dust being kicked up as she came to a stop facing the Paladin

"We learned about it earlier today and she did some reading," Weiss answered as she appeared in front of Blake and created a wall of ice to block the Paladin's gunfire. She pulled Myrtenaster from the ground and took a few steps back as she cycled over to red Dust and created a large glyph in the air in front of her. With a horizontal slash of her rapier through the glyph's center, the released Dust was amplified and transformed into a series of fireballs that sailed around the wall of ice before converging with the Paladin in a nice explosion.

Under the cover of the explosion's smoke, Shirou ran in and placed his left hand against the Paladin's leg. With a muttered "Trace, on", he sent a pulse of prana through the mech as he used his Structural Grasp to get a better understanding of it. Since there was no way he'd be able to understand any of its inner workings, he kept the penetration shallow and simply analyzed the shell for any weaknesses. Even if Roman's Aura was protecting the Paladin from most of the damage, the shock of any impacts were still transmitted at least in part so they could, in theory, still cause damage to it directly with precise attacks.

Just as Shirou finished his scan, the Paladin's leg pulled away so Shirou immediately jumped backward as a safety precaution. This proved to be a mistake, however, as Shirou saw one of the Paladin's large knives coming right at him. Unable to dodge, Shirou positioned his sword to take the brunt of the attack and angled his body to try and lessen the coming impact. Just before the attack landed, Ruby Rose suddenly appeared beside him and landed on the edge of the blade before grabbing him by the back of his hood and launching herself forward in a burst of speed, dragging Shirou along with her.

As the two rolled and slid to a stop, Shirou gave Ruby an appreciative nod at her worried glance even as he cursed inwardly. While the Paladin _did_ have a few weak points, they were in places that would be almost impossible to hit with sufficient force for it to matter. Whoever had designed the thing had clearly done a good job. That being said, since he didn't have to fully hide his Projection in these circumstances, he still had an idea that wouldn't draw more questions. "Give me a minute!" he told Ruby as he started to make his way toward the top of the unfinished building.

"No problem! Ladybug!" Ruby charged forward, weaving to avoid the Paladin's gunfire, as Blake charged from behind. Together, the two of them attacked with a series of crisscrossing slashes before Ruby jumped back and landed near Yang. "Strawberry Sunrise!" Ruby dashed back and put away her weapon as Yang leapt forward, left fist cocked back. In a flurry of rose petals, Ruby dashed forward and grabbed Yang to drag her forward at high speed. Together, the two sisters hit the Paladin in the side with a punch and kick that delivered enough force to make it stagger and nearly topple over.

While this was going on, Emiya Shirou stood atop the unfinished wall and took a deep, steadying breath. "Projection, start." He raised his right hand over his head, palm facing inward, and grabbed the arm just above the elbow to provide support. He needed a powerful weapon that could burst through the Paladin's Aura and, while he had countless ones capable of doing just that and more, he needed something that wouldn't also vaporize half the town while also creating a lot of questions. As it was, there was one weapon Shirou knew of that immediately sprung to mind and matched his criteria. It was a truly massive weapon for a truly massive man and while Unlimited Blade Works classified it as an axe-sword, it looked more like a slab of stone roughly hewn into the approximate shape of a weapon than anything else. Still, it was possibly the perfect weapon for the job and the corresponding increase in strength would make it all the better.

With a surge of prana, the weapon was given form and a grey, stone-like weapon with one jagged edge that was longer than Shirou was tall appeared in his hand. "Get out of the way!" Shirou called out as he leapt from his perch and swung Berserker's axe-sword downward with all of his enhanced might. Team RWBY scattered without so much as a glance in his direction as Roman stabilized the Paladin enough to bring its knives up in a crossguard. As the massive weapon collided with the mech's knives, the resulting shockwave was enough to not only blow Team RWBY away but also knock down the nearby scaffolding and damage some of the support beams even as the ground beneath the Paladin collapsed into a crater two meters across and at least a meter deep.

Still, despite Berserker's strength (degraded as it was), the weapon's great weight, and the assist from gravity; the Paladin just barely managed to hold firm with its left arm slightly buckling by the shoulder joint. Shirou had just enough time to look surprised and see Roman's evil smirk before the panels on its shoulders opened up again and two missiles were fired at him. With no way to dodge and no time to project Rho Aias, Shirou could only close his eyes as the missiles hit home.

"Shirou!" Ruby cried out as she looked up just in time to see her friend get blown up. The massive sword-thing he had created crumbled away like sand even as he got sent flying. In a flash, Ruby was on him and shielding his body with hers as they tumbled across the ground. After they had skidded to a stop, Ruby flipped them over so she was on top and watched as a wave of silver energy passed over his body, signifying that his Aura had broken. She quickly put her ear over his mouth and let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding as she heard him breathe.

Suddenly flooded by an anger greater than any she could ever remember experiencing, Ruby glanced over to where her team was still dealing with Roman before picking up Shirou's unconscious body and moving him further away from the battle. Once her friend was sufficiently safe, Ruby turned back to the conflict and leveled a hard glare at Roman as she swapped out her regular rounds for her high explosive ones.

Back at the fight, everyone screeched to a halt as a serious amount of killing intent poured over them. They turned to look at the young leader as she glared at Roman with cold fury before disappearing in a swirl of rose petals, her speed greater than anything she had displayed before. With a yell, Ruby sliced at the damaged part of the Paladin's arm and smiled in satisfaction as her scythe went straight through and the arm came flying off. "Bumblebee!"

Ruby's shouted command was enough to snap her teammates out of their stupor and into action. Yang quickly jumped onto the remains of the unfinished wall next to her so she could launch herself toward Blake but their plan was halted as Roman fired up the rocket boosters on the Paladin and came barreling right toward Yang. Unable to dodge, Yang threw up her arms in a crossguard and braced herself as the Paladin crashed into her and carried her through the wall. After traveling a couple dozen yards, Roman slowed the Paladin down and brought its remaining arm up, ready to drive the large knife straight through Yang's chest.

Ruby actually growled in anger and frustration as she watched the events unfold and quickly readied Crescent Rose in rifle form as she saw what Roman was going to do. "Weiss! Thunderbolt!" Weiss created a yellow glyph in front of Ruby and thrust Myrtenaster into it half an instant before Ruby pulled the trigger. The supersonic bullet passed through the glyph and was infused with energy as its speed was instantly doubled, the HE round approaching hypersonic speeds as it crackled with trails of electricity.

Just before the Paladin's blade could hit Yang, the blade suddenly shattered into a million pieces as a deafening "bang" followed it. Instead of being run through, Yang found herself being punched into the ground with enough force to crater it. "Well, not how I planned it but that's still one more pest out of the way," Roman mused as he paused to think and catch his breath. While the mech amplified his Aura, he'd been taking a serious beating and he was certainly feeling the energy drain. "Now I just need to— What?"

Roman looked down to see the Paladin's remaining arm slowly being pushed up. He tried to apply power to push it back down but he didn't even manage to slow it down as Yang slowly became visible; her teeth gritted in effort and her eyes burning red. She flashed the stunned Roman a toothy grin before punching the Paladin's fist, the impact shattering it and half of its arm.

The Paladin staggered back as Roman looked in shock from the remains of its arm to the blonde who was slowly standing up, a dense aura of yellow energy surrounding her and growing denser by the second. **"Full Release:"** Roman backed up as quickly as he could and prepared to fire the last of his missiles but suddenly found his movements growing increasingly sluggish before stopping completely. Yang started moving toward the Paladin; slowly at first but rapidly gaining speed until she was moving in a full-on sprint. As she ran, her aura grew denser and started to trail until it was no longer a young woman running at him but a long, gold dragon, its great maw opened wide to consume him.

 **"Roaring Dragon Fang!"** Yang leapt into the air and put all of her power into her right arm. The glyph beneath Roman disappeared right before Yang would have crossed it which left Yang completely unimpeded as she brought her attack home and landed her mighty punch right over Roman's face. The dragon aura continued onward as the punch utterly shattered the Paladin, instantly reducing it to scrap metal and sending Roman tumbling painfully across the ground before sliding to a stop back near the unfinished building where the rest of Team RWBY waited with their weapons at the ready.

Roman quickly got to his feet, grimacing at the amount of pain he was in and at the ruined state of his clothes. He looked around at the three girls for a moment before taking a deep breath and smiling. "Well, ladies," he said calmly with a surprising amount of confidence for someone who was about to go to jail, "it's been fun but I'm all tuckered out so, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll take my leave."

Ruby's eyes widened as she put the pieces together and dashed forward to strike at Roman with the side of Crescent Rose but was dismayed when her attack simply made the air shatter like glass. As the image of Roman disappeared, Ruby brought up her scope and switched over to thermal but Roman and Neo were nowhere to be found.

(A/N: End song.)

The girls took a moment to catch their breaths, with Yang slowly making her way over to them, before moving to check on Shirou. He was still unconscious but it only took a few seconds and some light prodding before he awoke with a groan.

"What happened?" Shirou said as he gingerly sat up.

"We destroyed the Paladin but Roman got away with Neo's help," Ruby explained as she held a hand on Shirou's back to support him.

"Is anyone hurt?" he asked as he looked at each of the girls over as best as he could with his still blurry vision.

"Well, I feel like I got run over by a truck but you should see the other guy," Yang joked.

"I'm glad no one got hurt," Shirou said before slowly standing up with Ruby and Blake's help. "We should get going. We need to report this to—" Shirou had started walking away but abruptly stopped as his strength gave out. He would have collapsed back into the ground if it weren't for Yang catching him.

"Easy there, hero. You just got knocked out; you can't just walk that off right away. Trust me. I know. I've tried," Yang said with a gentle smile.

Shirou closed his eyes and hung his head with a sigh even as he started to feed some prana into Avalon. While its full healing abilities were unavailable without Saber's prana, he had developed a great enough sympathy with it thanks to having it inside him for so many years that he could slightly speed up his recovery time. It was nowhere near as good as the healing his Aura gave him but it still had its uses.

"Shirou's right. We should get going," Ruby said as she started walking forward. "It's been a long night but we still have a ways to go before we can get some sleep."

"I can take Shirou back on Bumblebee. He needs to get checked out first thing," Yang said. Normally, Shirou would protest this but, as it was, he was doing well enough to stay standing.

"Good idea. We'll meet up with you later. Be careful, Yang. Take care of Shirou."

"Don't worry, sis. Our cook's in good hands."

* * *

A/N: A few things of importance. First, Berskerer's weapon isn't a Noble Phantasm. If it had been, Roman and the Paladin would have been neatly bisected. Second, Shirou's attack, which he can do basically at will numerous times, did about as much damage as Yang's Soul Surge. In this version of the story, had Shirou not been there, Team RWBY couldn't have taken down the Paladin. Also, for what its worth, if Shirou hadn't shouted that warning, Roman wouldn't have been able to block the attack and things would have played out very differently.

Anyway, omake time!

 **Omake 6**  
Unlucky Situation  
After V2C5

Qrow Branwen casually tossed his Scroll onto his desk after reading the report. Qrow was a man of many contradictions. His feather-like hair was a greying black and was spiked backward with his bangs framing his dull red eyes. Between his slightly angular facial features and the slight stubble running along his jaw, it was safe to say that he was a rather attractive man. This was further emphasized by his state of dress. He wore a gray dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants, and black dress shoes that were capped off with a tattered red cloak. Combined with his numerous rings a crooked cross necklace, he looked like an important man with a lot of money.

The contradiction was in everything else about him. The atmosphere that Qrow gave off was lackadaisical at the best of times and downright buffoonish at worst. The fact that he tended to go through most days at varying levels of drunkenness didn't help matters. Worse still, the office he was currently in was the complete opposite of how he dressed. While it wasn't messy, it also wasn't even remotely organized and every single piece of furniture in it could charitably be referred to as "cheap."

The report that Qrow had just read was one that Ozpin had just sent him. Apparently, his darlings nieces and their team had decided it'd be a good idea to get in a tussle with the White Fang and their stolen Atlesian military hardware. They had managed to resolve the situation with relatively minor property damage and no major injuries. They had even managed to get information that both revealed the presence of a White Fang hideout outside the city (something that they had suspicions of but had lacked hard evidence for) and narrowed down where it could be located. Between this and the incident at the docks a few months ago, Team RWBY was really making a name for themselves.

Frankly, Qrow was impressed. His team hadn't started into this kind of trouble until their second year.

Still, this turn of events was somewhat worrying. While Qrow had full confidence in the capabilities of his nieces, he couldn't help but worry about them. It was a big, dangerous world out there and they were starting to tangle with forces that went way beyond what any of them knew.

Well, any of them except one. Emiya Shirou was a very curious individual. Despite only being seventeen, he had the same air about him as veteran Hunters who had seen all kinds of hell. The kid's fighting was also something else. He fought with the ferocity and precision of a soldier and his fighting style seemed to frequently change based on what weapon he was using. Fighting him hadn't been like fighting a single person but rather like fighting fifty people all rolled into one. Keeping up with him had been a pain and the less said about when he fought with that stupidly long katana, the better.

Then there was the matter of the kid's luck. The fact that Qrow happened to be nearby when that hole in the sky opened up was pretty lucky by itself but things got crazy when they fought. Whenever Qrow's Semblance, which brought misfortune to others, acted up against Shirou, it was almost a crapshoot as to whether the thing that happened to him was actually bad or only seemed bad at first but was a good thing in the long run.

And then he used that "Reality Marble" thing and it took everything Qrow had to not throw his hands up then and there and call bullshit.

All in all, Qrow found this kid from another world to be an absolute headache but there was no denying that he was a good kid. From the reports Ozpin sent him and the occasional messages he got from Ruby and Yang, Shirou was doing a lot to help out not only them but literally everyone else around him. The fact that someone so completely altruistic existed should have been laughable but Emiya Shirou's mere existence was undeniable. The kid didn't seem to have a selfish bone in his body. While he had warned him to not try anything funny with Ruby, he honestly wouldn't have any complaints if she developed a crush on him. Plenty of worries but no complaints.

Still, with things going as they were, perhaps it was time for him to make an appearance. With the Vytal Festival coming up, Qrow could probably get away with taking a few personal days off. Yeah, after he located the White Fang hideout for Ozpin, he'd do just that.


	19. V2C6: Frustrating Hangups

A/N: Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

Shirou's breath came out in white bursts in the winter air as he slid back into a guard stance. He gave himself only the briefest of moments to rest before launching forward into another series of attacks. His black blade blurred as it tore through the air in a complicated series of slashes, each swing flowing into the next as he went through an intimately familiar yet completely alien pattern. As he went, the light layer of snow that surrounded him was blown away by the force of his swings even as the branches of the nearby trees swayed.

It had been a day since the investigation and the encounter with Roman. Naturally, Ozpin had been quite curious as to how events played out and thus had interviewed all those present one at a time much like he had after the incident on the docks. When it came time for Shirou to explain the events from his perspective, Ozpin had been quite interested to learn of Shirou's usage of his magecraft as well as his opinion of what he saw of Team RWBY's teamwork. In the end, Shirou's interview was more like a progress report on Ruby and her team than a description of the events that night.

While Ozpin had been satisfied with the way events had played out, Shirou absolutely was not. In fact, he wasn't satisfied with his performance ever since coming to Beacon which was precisely why he was outside during the night, training in one of the wooded areas near the dorms. The fight with Roman in the Paladin marked the second time that Shirou had come close to dying since attending Beacon and the second time he had been saved by someone. He had his justifications, sure, and he could reassure himself that he could have easily handled everything they had encountered by himself under different circumstances but that didn't change the simple facts of the matter. Twice now Shirou had nearly died and twice now he had been rescued.

That was simply unacceptable.

Shirou had been saved countless times by this point in his life. By Kiritsugu from that fire so many lifetimes ago, by someone (possibly Tohsaka) when Lancer had pierced his heart, by Saber when she answered his hasty summons to defend him from Lancer again, and so many more beyond that. For someone who had spent his entire life that he could recall wanting to save others in the way he had once been saved, being the one saved instead while being powerless to save others had been infuriating. Even when he thought he had finally started making headway and was going to save countless lives by ending the Holy Grail War perhaps once and for all, that had simply been the starting gun for the unspeakable evils that had lurked in the dark. After that, Shirou was saved time and again still but now at far too high a cost. His life was spared in exchange for someone else's.

Needless to say, these inequitable exchanges took their toll on Shirou. So many people died so that he could live and even when he chose to cast everything aside so that he could dedicate himself to one person and their safety, he had been forced to kill that very person with his own hands. By the end of the Holy Grail War, Emiya Shirou had been a broken man utterly devoid of any meaning other than the need to see this through to the end and an anger that burned so great that it had threatened to consume him. His last memory of Earth before waking up on Remnant had been of him releasing the power of the projected holy sword in his hands— a nameless sword of relative power to Excalibur— at the Greater Grail while simultaneously cursing that cruel and worthless world.

And now destiny seemed set to repeat itself. Despite his great skill and power that had been gained from countless hours of training with Kiritsugu, Taiga, and especially Saber; Shirou was still being saved. He had been hopelessly outclassed during the Holy Grail War, fighting forces far beyond regular human abilities, so his inability to do something was understandable but this was supposed to be different. He wasn't fighting figures from legend who had been elevated to a status comparable to gods. He was fighting against monsters that the people of this world make a career out of fighting and against common criminals. He was fighting enemies well within his ability to handle and yet he still needed to be saved.

Perhaps he should have expected this. He had been told that you can't save anyone if you can't first save yourself and Shirou couldn't exactly save that which didn't exist. He had always been a twisted individual with no real sense of self. That hadn't been a real issue to him before and he had, in fact, been grateful for this fact during the war. The seat inside his heart where his sense of self should have been was vacant but that had allowed Saber to take that seat. She fulfilled him in ways he couldn't even begin to describe simply by existing and he did the same for her. She was his sword and he was her sheath. That was the simple fact of the matter and Shirou didn't want it any other way.

But now the sword had been taken away and the sheath remained empty. Shirou held on desperately to those fragments of memories that remained with him but it simply wasn't enough. He knew what weapons were the best fit for Emiya Shirou. He knew what fighting style was the perfect choice for Emiya Shirou. He knew what path was the one most suited for Emiya Shirou. Yet, despite all of that, he denied them. He fought with a sword that was similar to hers, using a fighting style that was copied from hers, and wearing armor that was inspired by hers. Without his sword by his side, he had been forced to try and fill that void with memories of her yet it simply wasn't enough.

After all, his best performance had been when he stopped fighting like her and started fighting like himself.

Still, it wasn't like he could just completely abandon her. Even if that was something he could do emotionally, memories of Saber were the only thing holding Shirou together. He had abandoned his ideals in order to try and save her, after all, and now he only followed them because that is what she would have wanted. After everything had been violently torn from him by the war, it wasn't so much that the seat in the center of his heart was empty, it was rather that such a place simply didn't exist anymore. Everything that he had been was gone forever and now there was nothing left. If he let go of his memories of Saber to try and achieve those ideals, he would become the man that Kiritsugu had been before the fire that ended the Fourth Holy Grail War. He would become nigh unstoppable but he arguably would no longer be human. He wouldn't dishonor the memories of the people who had died to save him like that. He couldn't. While he had died with nothing but curses, they had all died with wishes. Wishes that he would live and find a better tomorrow. It was for their sake alone that he continued onward, never once understanding others, never once being understood.

In the end, his life was nothing but Unlimited Blade Works; endlessly producing weapons for no reason other than because that was all it can do.

OoOoOoOoO

Shirou once again found himself standing in Beacon's training hall, his nameless sword firmly in hand. Unlike the previous times, he wasn't here to train with Ruby. Instead, he was here after challenging someone to a rematch.

"Not gonna use your fancy swords this time, huh? You're going to regret taking it easy on me," Yang said as she stretched from her position on the opposite side of the platform.

Near the end of last month, Yang had challenged Shirou to a fight after he had fought not only Ruby but also Blake. He, indeed, had started that fight with Kanshou and Bakuya and, as a result, Yang had been soundly defeated. He had explained her weaknesses to her at the time much as he had with the others but it didn't seem like she had listened. After seeing her fight against the Paladin and as a part of various exercises in class, he had come to the conclusion that she had, in fact, learned nothing. As such, he had challenged her to a rematch intent on teaching her the hard way.

"I don't need them. This sword is more than enough," Shirou said evenly even as he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do.

Yang frowned, "I know you kicked my butt last time but I'm not _that_ weak. Bring out those cool swords of yours so we can really go at it."

"I only use as much effort as is needed. At your level, you don't require any more effort than this," Shirou said as he shifted his stance. He brought his sword to his side and gripped tightly near the crossguard with his right hand while his left held the pommel loosely.

"What the hell? You challenge me to a rematch just to insult me?" Yang asked, confused and more than a little annoyed. "If that's the way you're gonna be then I guess I'll just have to kick your ass and _make_ you take this seriously!" With that declaration, Yang charged forward, her eyes red as she pulled back for what would no doubt be a devastating right cross.

What Shirou was about to do was something he had never attempted before in combat. He was quite familiar with the basics of the technique thanks to having seen it so many times and it was simple in practice but he wasn't too sure on his execution. He had made sure to practice it a few times before this but the fundamental problem was that one or two of them would completely tap out his prana reserves. Then there was also the inherent danger in this stunt. If he miscalculated, even just a little, things would end _very_ badly. Still, if he was going to get this lesson through to Yang, this was the fastest way to do it.

Shirou stopped reinforcing his sword and himself with Aura and switched to prana even as he shifted his weight forward onto his left foot in preparation to dash. He flooded his sword and arms with far more prana than they could normally handle. He pushed off and met Yang's charge head-on, the two fighters closing the ten-meter gap that lied between them in an instant, and unleashed the stored prana in an explosive burst at the right moment. His sword, which should have been easy to block or avoid given the distance it had to travel, flashed forward in a downward arc so quickly that it left behind a streak of afterimages in its wake. Yang could only look stunned as the sword impacted with her arm as Shirou ducked to avoid her fist as the two passed.

The two fighters paused, Shirou having completed his attack and Yang still reeled back to deliver hers. When Shirou straightened to a neutral position, Yang looked over at her right arm and saw a line of red on her bicep, a drop of blood falling from it to splash against the floor.

Yang whirled on Shirou even as she focused her Aura toward the area to heal the wound. "What the hell, Shirou‽ You could have taken my arm off!"

"That's the point," Shirou said calmly as he turned to face the enraged blonde. "Like I said last time, you're too reckless and rely too much on your Semblance. You need to start relying more on skill than on overwhelming power. If you don't start thinking more, it's only a matter of time before you fight someone who _won't_ just graze you. I forfeit."

A nearby speaker played a buzzer upon hearing Shirou words even as the holographic screen displayed Yang's picture with a "WINNER" banner. Yang could only stand there dumbstruck as Shirou sheathed his sword and calmly walked away.

"What do you mean you forfeit‽ What about our rematch‽" Yang shouted after him once she found her tongue.

"There's no point in it," Shirou called back over his shoulder. "Think about what I said, Yang. I don't want to see you get seriously hurt and I'd hate to think how Ruby would react."

OoOoOoO

Yang let out a sigh of relief as she found Blake leaning against the railing of one of Beacon's balconies. Her partner had been more silent than usual ever since the encounter with Roman two days ago and she was starting to get worried.

"Heya, Blake," Yang said as she moved to join her partner.

"Yang," Blake said with a nod before turning her attention back to the slowly setting sun.

"What'cha doin' out here?" Yang asked as she leaned against the railing and gave her partner a kind smile.

"Thinking." Blake's voice was almost a monotone and her face was almost perfectly blank. The faraway look in her eyes was the only crack in her mask.

"About the White Fang?" Yang cocked her head slightly so she could get a better look at Blake's face.

"Among other things." Blake gave Yang a quick glance before gazing back at the horizon.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right? You're my partner and, more importantly, you're my friend."

Blake allowed herself a small smile before settling back into her mask. "I know."

Yang sighed and let her head droop. She really wanted to get to know her partner more and be there for her but that was difficult when said partner seemed intent on keeping her out. Not for the first time, she envied Shirou's ability to get people to open up to him.

"So, are you looking forward to the dance?" Yang asked, hoping that she could at least take Blake's mind off her worries with a safer topic.

"Not particularly. Those kinds of events aren't really my thing."

"Really? C'mon, I'll bet it'll be fun! I heard that Team CFVY is putting it together and you saw what Coco's like."

"Maybe," Blake allowed, "but I'd rather not waste my time on it. Besides, I wouldn't have anyone to go with, anyway."

"What about Shirou?" Yang asked with a sly look in her eye.

Blake was clearly caught off guard by the question as her gaze snapped back closer to home with a surprised start, her cheeks turning slightly red. "Shirou… he's… Shirou's a nice guy and all but I don't think he'd go with me even if I asked."

"What makes ya say that? You two spend a lot of time together and there's no way any decent person wouldn't like you."

Blake gave Yang a slightly embarrassed smile at the praise before shaking her head. "It's just… Shirou's a really… interesting person and our relationship is… complicated. There's just so much going on with him that I honestly can't say if I'm interested in him that way or not. I could certainly do a lot worse but… What about you? Are you going?"

Yang turned around so she was leaning on her back, her elbows resting on the railing and her legs crossed at the ankles. "You can bet your fluffy ears I'm going." Yang couldn't help the smile that formed when she saw Blake's bow twitch. "I love going to parties."

"Is there anyone you plan on asking out?" Blake asked even as she found herself unwittingly relaxing. It was strange. She felt like she should take offence from Yang's fluffy ears comment and from calling her "pussycat" two days ago but she just couldn't.

"Honestly? Not really. I've had my fair share of boyfriends and even the odd girlfriend but things are just different now. I could easily get a date but I don't want to go with some nobody. If I'm gonna take a date, it's gotta be someone I'm actually interested in, ya know?"

Blake smiled fondly even though her expression was tinged with sadness as she looked down between her clasped hands. "I can certainly understand the feeling."

"Hey, I know!" Yang said with a snap of her fingers. "Why don't we go together? Can't say I've ever gone to a party with someone as friends before."

Blake's smile wavered. "I don't know. It still seems like a waste of time."

"Aw, come on, it'll be fun! Don't be a sourpuss. We can even rope Ruby and Weiss into coming with us if they don't have dates!"

Blake looked away as she chewed on her bottom lip. A part of her honestly wanted to go with her partner but Yang still didn't really understand anything or even know anything about her. About the sins she had committed and the blood that stained her hands. And with _his_ shadow looming over everything, the courage to reach out to someone like that was simply escaping her. At least with Shirou, he had known a lot beforehand and circumstances had practically forced her to reveal the rest but with Yang? She wanted to keep her partner as far away from that mess as she could. "I still don't know."

"Will you at least think about it? Please? For me?" Yang asked as she gave her partner her best pleading face.

Blake couldn't help the exasperated sigh nor the fond smile when she looked back toward her partner. "Alright. I'll think about it."

"Thanks, Blake. You're the best."

OoOoOoO

Velvet Scarlatina pulled her jacket a little tighter as she strolled through Beacon's grounds, the freshly fallen snow crunching under her boots. It was just after seven and the sun had long since set, her surroundings only illuminated by the faintly twinkling stars and the reflected light of the shattered moon. Given how cold it had been recently, nearly every student had elected to stay inside as much as possible but Velvet had a tradition to stick to and it was one she really needed as of late.

Velvet's outing with Shirou four days ago still weighed on her heavily. She was able to set it aside easily enough when she needed to focus on something but her idle hours were being eaten away by her thoughts. This was something Coco had naturally quickly noticed but Velvet had no choice but to brush her concerns aside, saying that Shirou had given her a lot to think about. Talking about what she learned in anything but the vaguest of terms would be a betrayal of the highest sort and, even then, she wouldn't have divulged even that much if it had been anyone other than Coco.

The fact of the matter that bothered Velvet so much was that there was simply nothing she could do. The pain that ran through Emiya Shirou was not something that could be healed so easily and the opportunities she had to try and alleviate that pain at least a little were few and far between. Since Velvet was in her second year and Shirou in his first, they shared no classes and their free periods didn't overlap. During lunch, he always ate with Teams RWBY and JNPR so there wasn't anything to be done there. When they weren't in class, she often saw him with a member of those teams so she never felt comfortable with anything more than a passing hello.

Of course, it's not like she could do much even when a chance came up. The few times Velvet had managed to catch him alone, their conversations had been short, light, and more than a little awkward. Velvet wanted to reach out to him and help him but she had no idea how while Shirou seemed to be actively keeping his distance. She had managed to gather from the posted test scores that he was doing fine academically and she had seen him studying with Blake or Ruby once or twice so he didn't need help there. Outside of that, she honestly couldn't think of any other way to try and make his life a little more pleasant. It wasn't like he was a social recluse who needed help learning how to make friends, after all. Quite the contrary, Shirou was surrounded by friends who seemed to care about him so there wasn't much that one more friend could do.

Velvet's rabbit ears twitched and she instantly froze, her thoughts coming to an abrupt halt as she heard something cutting through the air nearby. She was in one of the more wooded areas of Beacon so she couldn't see the source of the sound but it was every bit as unmistakable as it was curious. At this time of night, in this cold, no sane student would be outside without a good reason. What it could be other than a student training for whatever reason she didn't know but she knew she had to find out. She didn't hear the sounds of fighting but she still needed to investigate in case it was something serious.

Crouching low and moving using skills honed through countless hours of training and enhanced by her Semblance, Velvet crept along toward the noise, her footfalls making nearly no noise as she went. As she went deeper into the wooded area, she became more certain that no fighting was happening and that there was only one person present but that just made her all the more curious. When she finally found the source of the noise, she instantly recognized Shirou even with his back to her and the grayscale that all Fanus see in when in the dark. He was wielding weapons she had never seen him use before— two curved short swords that were intricately designed— and he was swinging them through the air was a speed and precision that she rarely saw even in her own grade. It was an amazing sight and one that would probably look all the better in color with the moonlight streaming down through the trees. Overtaken by desire as she was, Velvet couldn't help but to pull out her special camera and snap a picture.

This, of course, proved to be a bad idea as Shirou whirled around and hurled one of the blades at Velvet in surprise once the picture was snapped. The white blade cut through the air at surprising speeds but, even with the shock of the situation, her trained reflexes made her throw up her Aura even as she started to sidestep and turn out of the way. The entire effort proved pointless, however, as the blade crumbled away like broken glass before it even reached her.

"Velvet! I'm sorry! Are you alright?" Shirou asked as he quickly came up to her, eyes wide in panic.

"I'm fine," Velvet reassured him even as she tried to calm down her suddenly racing heart. "I'm the one who should apologize. I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that."

"No, it's fine. I was lost in what I was doing so I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been. More to the point, I shouldn't have attacked without seeing who it was first. What are you doing out so late in this cold anyway?"

There it was again. Shirou's tendency to blame himself for everything. While it was admirable, from a certain point of view, it was also infuriating. Velvet honestly had no idea if she would have preferred it if he blamed everyone _but_ himself for his problems. "I could ask the same of you," she said, deciding to put that matter aside for the time being.

"I'm training. I've been disappointed in my performance lately so I thought some extra practice would help."

"Admirable but you're the top of your class, from what I've heard. What's there to be disappointed about?"

Shirou grimaced, "Have you heard about what happened two days ago?"

"You mean your battle with that Atlas mech stolen by the White Fang? Of course. Between that and the fight at the docks four months ago, you and Team RWBY are minor celebrities. Most students don't start going on truly dangerous missions until their second year."

It was hard to see in grayscale but Velvet was pretty sure Shirou was flushing from embarrassment. "Maybe, but that fight, among other reasons, is exactly why I'm training. My Aura broke and I lost consciousness toward the end of it. I'm fine," Shirou said quickly, holding up his hand to forestal an interruption at Velvet's look of concern, "but it was too close for comfort."

"I guess that's as good a reason as any. Do you expect to get into more fights like that so soon, though? You'll get better as you keep up with your classes, after all."

Shirou shook his head, "It's not so much that I expect more fights like that to happen as it is that I need to be prepared regardless. I certainly do expect more tough fights, though. There's a lot of stuff going on and I don't think Team RWBY is going to stay out of it."

"And you'd help them out even if they didn't ask you." Shirou nodded. "Still, why outside? The sparring hall doesn't close until nine and it's certainly a lot warmer."

"I like the privacy," Shirou said, looking off to the side. "My father drilled the importance of secrecy into me when I was younger and it's kept me alive through countless fights. It's a lot easier to keep a secret when no one's around."

"Is that why I've never seen you use those swords before?" Velvet asked with a tilt of her head.

Shirou grimaced again, "Yeah. That's my Semblance. I can recreate any simple bladed weapon I can see. It works best with swords and those are the swords I'm best with."

"Oh, so it's a lot like my camera, then," Velvet said, holding up the archaic-looking device in question. "Your weapons are just made from Aura rather than hard light."

A look of recognition passed through Shirou's eyes for a moment but he spoke up before she could. "What about you? What brings you out here?"

Velvet crossed her arms to tighten up her jacket as a chill wind blew through the area. Interestingly enough, Shirou didn't seem to react to it. "It's a bit of a habit. I like taking a walk through the grounds before I go on a mission. It helps settle my nerves and keeps the memory of this place strong."

"You're going on a mission soon?" Shirou asked, his brow perked up in interest.

"Uh-huh," Velvet nodded. "Protection detail. There's a small town called Vilhim a few hours away from here via airship. The Grimm have been acting up there lately so we're being sent to reinforce their guard until more permanent aid arrives."

"So, you'll be leaving tomorrow?"

"Yep. If all goes well, we should be back by Monday."

"What time do you leave?"

Velvet looked at him curiously, "Our ship leaves at seven in the morning. Why?"

"Just curious. Good luck on your mission."

"Thanks," Velvet said with a smile before an idea struck her. "Hey, maybe I could help you train? I'm not the best in my class but my Semblance lets me mimic just about anything I see so I make for a good sparring partner."

"Oh, no, there's no way I could impose on you like that. Especially with you having a mission tomorrow," Shirou said quickly, waving his hands back and forth.

"Well, I obviously couldn't train with you right now but it'll be fine once I get back. It wouldn't be any trouble at all."

Shirou fell silent for a moment as he pondered the offer before speaking slowly, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. So long as it's not an inconvenience."

"I wouldn't have offered if it was," Velvet said. She wanted to scowl at his recalcitrance and unwillingness to let people help him but instead decided to beam at the fact that he _had_ agreed to let her help him and that she might have found just what she was looking for. "Well, I better get going. If I don't get back soon, I'll really hear it from Coco."

"Right. I'm sorry for holding you up."

"It's okay. It was great talking to you Shirou! I'll see you when I get back!" Velvet said with a wave as she turned to leave.

"It was nice talking to you, too. I'll see you later."

The next day, when Velvet and her team arrived at the port to head out, they found none other than Emiya Shirou waiting for them with a box of ohagi for their trip.


	20. V2C7: A Minor Slipup

A/N: Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

Shirou took a deep breath to try and steady himself as he quickly backpedaled away from his opponent, his sword gripped tightly in his hands. It was time once again for some spotlight spars in Professor Goodwitch's class and, this time around, it seemed that she wanted to pit the two best students of the year against each other. That's how Shirou found himself standing in front of the whole class and fighting none other than the Pride of Argus herself, Pyrrha Nikos. And he wasn't terribly happy about it.

Of course, Shirou knew that he was one of the very few who felt that way. When the announcement was made, a hush fell over the entire room as the assembled students processed this information before quickly bursting out in murmurs so numerous that Professor Goodwitch had to shout in order to regain order. As the two examplaries of their year, a fight between Shirou and Pyrrha had often been the subject of debate among the students and no doubt a fair number of bets as well. Pyrrha was the rising superstar, the paragon of a true Hunter, the invincible idol who hadn't once been hit during spars, and the mascot of a beloved cereal brand. Shirou was an unknown figure who was the subject of countless rumors, an underdog, had also never once been hit, and had been in a number of high profile scuffles with a criminal organization. This fight was the stuff of legends as far as the students were concerned.

It was a shame for them that Pyrrha was also one of the people displeased with the publicity of their bout. Team JNPR knew of Shirou's "Semblance" in much the same way Shirou and Team RWBY knew of Pyrrha's. Both parties didn't like showing their full capabilities in public situations if they could help it and thus both parties were holding back considerably. An effort was being made, of that there could be no doubt, but Team RWBY and the others of Team JNPR could tell that the two of them were basically playing around. Ruby and Blake in particular, who had seen what it was like when Shirou went all out, could see the relative lack of effort on display.

The fight had been going on for about a minute now with neither party landing a successful blow and Shirou hummed as he realized that he was going to lose. At the level of skill he was comfortable showing using just his sword, his chances of defeating Pyrrha were slim at best. Her advantages were simply too numerous and her skill was equal to, if not greater than, his so there were no real openings for him to take advantage of. He briefly contemplated using Archer's false opening style but quickly put that thought aside. It was made for use with two weapons, he wasn't desperate to win this, and he didn't really want to show off even that much.

With that realization in mind, Shirou charged back in. Even if he wasn't likely to win, he still wanted to give a good showing seeing as how this fight _was_ being graded. If he just forfeited, he'd never hear the end of it from a lot of people regardless of his reasoning.

The fight between Shirou and Pyrrha was brief but, to most of the students, intense. They danced around each other, their blades often passing scant centimeters from each other's skin and sparking where they clashed. Shirou was the first one to land a direct hit with a spinning backfist to her left temple (much to the excitement of the class) but Pyrrha quickly repaid him in kind with a heel kick that nearly sent him flying off of the stage. After nearly five minutes of solid fighting, both combatants were breathing a bit heavily and staring each other down as they waited for the other to make a move. Both were in the yellow and all it would take was one solid strike from either party to bring it to an end.

Shirou tightened his grip on his sword before launching himself at Pyrrha, closing the ten meters that separated them in a second. Having spotted his tell, Pyrrha brought her shield up to block Shirou's horizontal slash but was forced into a front flip when he transitioned into a slide to take out her legs. When she landed, she lashed out behind her with her shield, forcing Shirou to sway backward, before following up with a slash of her own while Shirou went for a stab. It quickly became apparent that she was going to lose this exchange— a straight line is much shorter than a curved one— and she was too committed to her attack to dodge so she instead stepped deeper into her attack and did the one thing she was told never to do, even with her Semblance: she let go of her sword.

No longer restrained by the sword's momentum and with Shirou now out of place to get the full power of his thrust, Pyrrha clenched her fist and nailed Shirou in the jaw with a right cross even as she felt his sword scrape against the Aura over her back. Shirou was sent flying from the impact and landed heavily on his back, sword still in hand as he rolled to a stop. Instead of immediately springing up, however, he just laid there as the siren went off and Pyrrha was declared the winner.

Pyrrha took a moment to gather herself before sheathing her weapons and walking over to Shirou, a hand outstretched to help him up. He looked at her for a second before smiling and grabbing the offered hand as the crowd started cheering.

"Excellent work, the both of you," Professor Goodwitch said after she regained control. "Miss Nikos, you should have no problem qualifying for the tournament. Now, before class ends for today, I'd like to remind everyone that, while the dance is this weekend, you will all be going on your first mission the following Monday. While the missions you all will be able to choose from will be relatively benign, your life could still be put on the line so don't go overboard at the dance." Almost as soon as the professor stopped, the end-of-period alarm sounded. "That will be all. Class dismissed."

OoOoOoO

Outside of the auditorium that served as the classroom whenever they had spotlight spars, Teams RWBY and JNPR, along with Shirou, were talking among themselves as they made their way to their next class.

"You know, I wonder who'd win if Shirou and Pyrrha really went all out," Nora said as she eyed the two in question. Shirou and Pyrrha shared curious glances, neither of them sure of the answer either.

"Yeah, neither of you used your Semblances, right? That'd make it an entirely different ballgame," Yang added.

"Even without his Semblance, Shirou wasn't going all out with just his regular sword," Ruby observed as she glanced at the redhead out of the corner of her eye. While he wasn't denying her claim, he certainly didn't look comfortable, either.

"Neither was Pyrrha. While I haven't seen her go all out, I know she's capable of more than that," Jaune said as he, in turn, glanced at the equally uncomfortable Pyrrha.

"You two held back because you don't like showing off, right? Why don't we go to someplace secluded after class so that way we can see who would really win?" Yang suggested.

Shirou and Pyrrha stopped looking at the sky and ground, respectively, and turned their attention back toward each other. Even Shirou couldn't help but be curious as to how that fight would turn out.

"I have no objections," Pyrrha said as she started properly sizing Shirou up.

"Me neither," Shirou said as he turned his gaze straight ahead. If he got caught eyeballing Pyrrha, the rumor mill would go crazy.

"Then it. Is. ON! Man, it's too bad you guys are so secretive! We could make _bank_ selling tickets to the fight of the century!" Nora said animatedly.

"I dunno about you guys but _I'm_ making bank regardless," Yang said as she sidled up to Ren.

As everyone but the two fighters started placing their bets, Shirou couldn't help but feel like he had just made a terrible error.

OoOoOoO

"Hey, Blake, are you doing okay?" Yang asked as she sat on her partner's bed. It was currently a free period so Team RWBY had collectively decided to spend it lounging in their room.

Blake crossed her arms and sighed, the hint of dark circles under her eyes making the action almost come across as a yawn. "I'm— I'll be fine."

"Ya sure about that? This investigation's starting to mess with your head. You even fell asleep during Shirou and Pyrrha's sparring match!" The past several nights, Team RWBY, accompanied by Shirou, had been trying to hunt down Roman Torchwick and the White Fang with no success.

Weiss, who had been going over her class notes, spoke up, ticking off points on her fingers as he made them, "You _can't_ sleep, you _hardly_ eat outside of breakfast, and to be honest, your _grades_ have been suffering."

"You think I care about _grades?_ " Blake said as she abruptly stood up, jostling the bed in the process. Yang gave out a startled cry and quickly moved to steady her bed as it started swaying. "People's _lives_ are at stake!" she said as she gestured vaguely to the window.

Having confirmed the safety of her bed, Yang reached out to gently take Blake's outstretched hand, "We _know_ and we're all still trying to figure out what Torchwick is up to."

"Thanks to you, we know they're operating somewhere outside of southeast Vale," Ruby said from where she sat atop her bed.

" _And_ the Schnee company records singled out Vale as the primary target for Dust robberies over the last few months," Weiss said as she closed her notebook and shifted to be sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Don't forget about their missing military tech, too," Yang added, as she slowly stroked the back of her partner's hand with her thumb. She didn't even know that you could _feel_ tension in someone's hands.

Blake extracted her hand from Yang's and practically marched to the center of the room, "But there's still unanswered questions!"

"Blake, you won't be able to find anything if you can't even keep your eyes open!" Ruby said in exasperation as she hopped down from her bed, taking care to not hit Weiss.

"You should go to the dance with us," Yang said as she also stood up. "All we're asking is that you take it easy for _one day._ "

"It will be fun!" Weiss said, standing up so she wouldn't be left out. "Yang and I will make sure of it."

"Yeah! We're planning the whole event!" Yang exclaimed with a pump of her fists.

Blake whirled around to face her team, surprise etched on her face, " _Excuse_ me?"

"Team CFVY's away mission lasted longer than expected," Weiss supplied.

"So, Weiss and I were asked to pick up where they left off. And now we can make sure you have the perfect night," Yang said as she draped her arm across the heiress' shoulders.

Weiss reached over and flicked Yang on the forehead, causing the blonde to yelp and remove the offending appended to rub at it. "And, once it's all over, we'll return to our search, rested and ready."

"So, what do ya think?" Ruby asked with a hopeful look.

Blake looked between the hopeful faces of her teammates and grit her teeth, growling as she struggled to fight down the rising aggravation and panic inside her. "I think this is a colossal waste of time," she said finally as she stormed out of the room. "I'll be in the library."

Once the door was shut behind Blake, Yang practically deflated. "Great," she said sarcastically as she collapsed onto her partner's bed.

"She can't keep going on like this," Weiss said as she leaned against the bookshelf underneath the window and crossed her arms.

"Maybe we should get Shirou to talk to her?" Ruby suggested as she sat down on Weiss' bed. "Those two seem awfully close…"

Yang shook her head as she hummed her disapproval. "Blake is _our_ teammate so _we_ should be the ones to handle it." The trio sat in silence for a moment, each of them lost in their own thoughts, before Yang spoke up again, turning her head to look at her team. "So, you two plan on taking anyone to the dance?"

"Not particularly," Weiss answered first. "Most boys I've met are only interested in my name and status. Besides, none of them have caught my eye."

"What about you, Rubes?"

"Oh, well, you know, there really isn't anyone in particular, certainly not anyone I'd think about asking, so I was just thinking I'd, you know, go by myself!" Ruby had been looking everywhere except at Yang during that and ended it with a nervous giggle.

Yang quickly sat up and scooted closer to the edge of the bed, clearly not buying it. Even Weiss turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Really now?" Yang asked archly. "I could have sworn that there was someone you've had your eye on. A certain redhead who just might be the greatest cook on Remnant, perhaps?"

Ruby's face turned red so quickly that Yang was almost afraid that she'd pass out. "W-wh-what? N- _noooo_ , I mean, how could— _noooo_ , that'd be— I mean, _c'mon,_ Yang! What could _possibly_ make you think that I like Shirou?"

"Well, gee, I dunno, sis. You spend an awful lot of time with him, you listen to his advice more than probably anyone else's, your face is so red that your cloak is about to get jealous, and I'm pretty sure I've seen you undressing him with your eyes a couple times," Yang said, ticking her points off on her fingers.

"I HAVE DONE NO SUCH THING!" Ruby shouted, immediately shooting to her feet, her face threatening to go nuclear.

"Now that she mentioned it, you _have_ been paying a lot of attention to him lately," Weiss added, her brow furrowed slightly.

"Well, _sure_ , I mean, who _wouldn't_ when he has so much to say and it's all so interesting and—" Seeing the looks her teammates were giving her, Ruby growled in frustration as she hung her head in defeat. "FINE!" she shouted, throwing her arms up. "I like Emiya Shirou, alright‽" She sat back down on Weiss' bed and crossed her arms, looking away from her team in a combination of a huff and a pout.

"See? Was that so hard to admit?" Yang asked with a smirk. "So, are you going to ask him to the dance?"

"No! He wouldn't go out with me anyway!"

Yang tilted her head, "What makes you say that?"

"Because Blake's obviously interested in him and they're really close so _of course_ he'd want to go out with her!" Ruby explained as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Yang was proud of her socially awkward little sister for not only picking up on those hints but also, to a degree, understanding her feelings for their redheaded friend. Had this happened not even a year ago, not only would Ruby have not thought anything about all the time Blake and Shirou were spending together, she probably wouldn't have thought anything about her budding feelings for the boy. While Yang doubted that what Ruby was feeling was the real deal, as a first crush, she could do a lot worse than Shirou.

Yang leaned forward to rest her arms on her knees as she smiled at her little sister and leader, "I wouldn't worry about that. Even setting aside what just happened, Blake's relationship with Shirou is complicated and she wasn't planning on asking him out."

"How do you know that?" Ruby asked, actually looking at her sister for the first time in the last minute or so.

"We talked about it the other day. You're in the clear as far as she's concerned, sis."

"Well, maybe, but just because she doesn't plan on asking Shirou out doesn't mean he's not going to ask _her_ out!"

"He might, he might not. Either way, he hasn't yet and you don't know what he'll say to you until you ask him."

"But what if he turns me down? I don't want to ruin our friendship!"

"You won't. Worst that'll happen is that things'll be a little awkward for a bit but then everything'll be fine. Trust me, I know, I've been there. On both sides, even."

Ruby sighed and stared down at her clasped hands for a long moment before shyly looking back up at Yang, "So, I just knock on his door and ask him to the dance?"

"Yup. That's all there is to it."

Ruby was silent for a moment longer. "I'll ask him after his fight with Pyrrha. Wouldn't want to distract him or anything."

"That's fair enough and good on ya, sis. No matter what he says, everything'll be just fine."

"I certainly hope so…"

OoOoOoO

"Trace, on," Shirou muttered as he went over everything one last time, the slowly setting sun bathing the area is shadow. Classes had ended about an hour ago and now, along with Teams RWBY and JNPR, he was about half a kilometer away from the school in the clearing where he had been spending his nights training. About ten meters away from him, Pyrrha was similarly going through the last checks of her gear while the others stood near the clearing edge, waiting in anticipation for what was sure to be the showdown of the century.

"So, are we going to be using the standard dueling rules?" Shirou called out as he finished tightening the straps of his vambrace.

Pyrrha hummed for a bit before answering, "How about we go until Aura break? That way we can go all out with our Soul Surges."

"Risky but I'll agree to it. Ruby, do you mind calling the start?"

"No problem!" the silver-eyed girl said cheerfully as she took a few steps forward. "Fighters all set?"

Shirou traced Kanshou and Bakuya while Pyrrha drew Miló and Akoúo̱, a sword/javelin/rifle combo and a shield, respectively.

"Not using your bow-sword?" Pyrrha asked as she slid into a defensive stance.

"If I don't go all-out from the start, I'll lose without question," Shirou answered as he did the same.

"Ready?" Ruby raised her left hand high in the air as Shirou and Pyrrha both tensed before bringing it down while shouting "GO!"

(A/N: Play "The Stains of Time" from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance)

The instant the starting signal was registered, Shirou and Pyrrha shot toward each other, the speed of their launches kicking up the thin layer of snow that covered the ground. They collided in the center, Shirou's swords stopped by Pyrrha's shield, before launching into a dance of blades and metal with a speed, precision, and power far exceeding their showing earlier in the day. Their weapons were little more than blurs as they shifted between giving ground and taking it so often that the line between their offensive and defensive was blurred to a point of almost nonexistence.

Shirou ducked under one of Pyrrha's swings and spun around her to strike her in the back with Bakuya only for Pyrrha to shift Miló into its javelin form and parry the blow. She disengaged and spun to face him, firing off a few rounds that Shirou parried, before bringing her shield up to block his charge. Shirou brushed aside her shield, surprising Pyrrha as he hadn't fully committed to the charge, and lashed out with Kanshou. Realizing that she didn't have time to fully dodge or block, Pyrrha reached out with her Semblance as she leaned back and watched as Shirou's blade was forced back, its tip ghost across her skin.

Shirou was shocked for just an instant but it was long enough for Pyrrha to counterattack. She slammed the edge of her shield into his collar bone before catching him in the side with her sword and following up with a rising heel kick that caught him under the chin and staggered him back. She shifted Miló to its javelin form and threw it into the center of his chest. As he staggered further back, she called her weapon back to her hand as she launched forward in a spinning strike that Shirou just barely managed to block with a crossguard.

Having regained himself, Shirou carefully fed prana into his weapons, ever so slightly altering their nature, as he pushed Pyrrha's javelin up and over himself with Kanshou while lashing out with Bakuya. Pyrrha caught the attack with her shield only to nearly lose her balance as kicked at the side of the knee she had most of her weight on. Shirou switched Kanshou to a reverse grip and fully pushed away Miló before slashing at Pyrrha's exposed torso. Unable to dodge, Pyrrha reached out with her Semblance once more but blanched when she failed to grab hold of it.

Kanshou tore down Pyrrha's torso, the black blade skimming off of her Aura, before Shirou transitioned into an elbow strike that caught her in the solar plexus. Stunned as she was, she was helpless as Shirou let loose with a vicious combo, not giving her even a moment to regain her senses. Not one to give up so easily, Pyrrha let her body go slack and fell to the ground before transitioning into a backward roll and handspring that bought her the breathing room she needed.

When they clashed again, Pyrrha was much more cautious than she had been before. She didn't know how but Shirou had somehow removed the magnetic properties of his swords. Without that leverage, she found most of her usual strategies impossible but that just made a smile worm its way onto her face. She had been in many battles before against many opponents, several of whom had been out of her league, but this battle? It was different from all of the others. This battle was _fun_.

Shirou staggered from where Pyrrha had decked him and quickly turned the stagger into a roll to avoid the expected horizontal slash only to be caught by surprise when Pyrrha caught him coming out of the roll with an uppercut, the edge of her shield catching him under the chin and making his teeth chatter as his head snapped back. He tried to backpedal to regain himself but nearly lost his balance when Pyrrha nailed him with a shield bash. The follow-up spinning heel kick was delivered with enough force to utterly shatter his tenuous connection with the ground and sent him hurtling into the woods. He managed to regain himself before he crashed into any trees and caught a large branch with his swords, using the leverage to swing around and send himself into the canopy.

Just as Shirou landed on a branch large enough to support his weight, there was the sound of gunfire a split second before Pyrrha's javelin tore through the branch he was standing on, sending him tumbling down to the ground. He kipped up as soon as he could and twirled around just in time to parry Miló on its return trip to its owner. He spun around again, swords ready to block Pyrrha's charging slash, but he was surprised as she stopped just short of him and instead leaped over him, using a nearby tree as a springboard to launch herself toward him with a devastating overhead slash with her sword. Shirou brought up his own swords in a crossguard just in time to block the attack but he still flinched as the shockwave passed through his body, the snow around them being sent into the air as a veritable blizzard.

The two fighters held the stalemate for a heartbeat, staring into each other's eyes with a mixture of excitement and joy as they tried to get a read on each other. Shirou ended the stalemate when he uncrossed his blades, pushing Pyrrha's up and away, only to backflip as Pyrrha used the moment to lashed out with a spinning kick. Shirou landed first so he pressed his advantage by launching forward with a spinning slash of his own using both of his swords but Pyrrha managed to spring away at the last second, the wind generated by the swing cutting a chunk out of the tree behind her and blowing away the snow that had been sent into the air by her attack.

As Shirou was recovering from his whiffed strike, Pyrrha sent out Miló to take a smaller chunk out of the back of the tree Shirou had damaged before launching into it with a roundhouse kick that sent it falling toward him. For his part, Shirou brought his swords down to the opposite sides, his arms crossed in front of him, and waited for three heartbeats as the tree fell before lashing out with a barrage of lightning fast slashes that reduced the part of the tree that would have hit him to splinters. He then jumped toward the stunned Pyrrha and met her in the air with a cross slash. While Pyrrha managed to block it with her shield, the momentum sent them deeper into the woods. Before they hit the ground, they brought their feet up against the other's before pushing off. Almost in unison, they both flipped through the air and landed on their feet, sliding across the cold ground and kicking up more snow.

As Shirou took a moment to catch his breath and analyze his opponent, he couldn't help but marvel at the feeling welling up in his chest. He had fought many people in his life but those fights had always been one-sided. Kiritsugu, Taiga, and Saber had all been leagues beyond him in terms of ability, even as Kiritsugu's curse left him physically weak, and his handful of fights against other Servants hadn't so much been fights to win but simply a struggle to survive. Even his "defeat" of Saber at the end hadn't been an actual fight but more like an assisted suicide. The handful of martial arts classes he had taken had been on the opposite side of the spectrum with him usually far outstripping his compatriots even without using magecraft.

Ever since coming to Remnant, the story had been much the same. The Forces of Grimm had never really been any challenge individually as it was their numbers that made them dangerous and the handful of humans (or Soulkin, he supposed) that he had faced had either far outstripped him (such as Qrow) or were people he could defeat without too much trouble (as in Ruby and her team). Even with the example of Roman and Neo on the docks, Roman was only a match for him when he was holding back and Roman and Neo together only proved to be troublesome because of Neo's Semblance.

But this fight with Pyrrha? This was different. This was _fun_. For the first time in his life, Shirou was having fun fighting someone. He was actually enjoying pitting himself against her and trying to overcome her. They were so evenly matched that it was almost scary and there was absolutely nothing at stake. No war of revived legends looming in the background that he had to prepare for. No broken ideal he was trying to achieve or defend. No heartache that made every swing of his sword feel as though he was cutting out his own soul or rage that burned so hot that it threatened to consume him. There was just him and her and this fight and it was so liberating that, if he stopped to think about it, it would scare him. For perhaps the first time in his life, even though the moment was brief, he was free.

Such thoughts were quickly put aside as Pyrrha charged him once more. She drew her sword back to slash at him but let go of it to lash out with a right hook instead. Shirou was about to abandon his attempt to block the slash but was forced to strengthen his guard as the sword continued onward unabated. With his left arm tied up, he dismissed Bakuya to grab Pyrrha's wrist but that action was stopped as Pyrrha slammed the edge of her shield into his forearm.

Unable to stop the attack or dodge, Shirou rolled with the punch and spun around only to go on a wide-eyed defensive as Pyrrha's sword attacked seemingly under its own power, clearly being puppeted by Pyrrha's Semblance. Of course, just because Pyrrha was willing it to attack didn't mean she couldn't attack herself so Shirou was stuck trying to guard against as many as three attacks at once. Against such odds, he had no choice but to use Archer's false opening style to control the flow of Pyrrha's attacks, bringing the battle closer to being back under his control.

Then Pyrrha detached her shield and things got _really_ crazy.

Desperate, Shirou jumped backward and hurled Kanshou at her while she sent her shield toward him. The sword and shield passed each other, barely a hair's breadth separating them, before continuing on toward their targets. Pyrrha grabbed Kanshou by the hilt with a spin while calling Miló back to her as Shirou bent back at the waist. As the shield passed over him, he fed prana into the vambrace on his left arm and gave it magnetic properties before bringing it up and smirking as the shield latched onto it.

While neither of them had fought like this before, Pyrrha's innate talent allowed her to adapt quickly while Shirou switched out Bakuya for a longsword used by a nameless hero to quickly gain the knowledge of how to fight with a shield. As such, when they clashed again, it was almost as though they had practiced with the weapons their entire lives.

Shirou used Akoúo̱ to parry Pyrrha's slash with Kanshou before thrusting with his longsword. Pyrrha stepped into the attack and brushed it aside with Miló before catching Shirou in the bridge of the nose with a headbutt. Shirou staggered back and was forced on the defensive as Pyrrha let loose with a combo that flowed around him like water and practically danced around, coming at him from all angles.

Unable to get a good opening, Shirou dismissed Kanshou at the same time Pyrrha reached out with her Semblance to yank Akoúo̱ off of Shirou's arm and into the snow. With both fighters reduced to just one weapon, the playing field evened slightly but Shirou still at a disadvantage since the person he was drawing from wasn't so skilled at fighting with just a sword and his own skills were insufficient to deal with someone of Pyrrha's skill.

Just as Shirou was starting to look for a way to disengage so he'd have time to project Kanshou and Bakuya again, Pyrrha surprised him by backing away herself. He only had half a heartbeat to be surprised before he suddenly found himself flung into the air by Akoúo̱, which he had unknowingly been standing on as it had been hidden by the snow. Before he could regain his senses, he found his movement arrested and had just enough time to look at the smirking Pyrrha, who had her hand held out toward him, before she pulled her arm back and pushed forward, sending him flying through the woods.

Shirou landed heavily back in the clearing and groaned as he pulled himself up, dismissed the longsword and bringing out Kanshou and Bakuya once more. Pyrrha was coming at him again, a bit more cautiously this time, so he decided to show her a few tricks of his own.

Feeding prana into the metal parts of his armor to alter them, Shirou waited and evened out his breathing while waiting for the right moment. When Pyrrha was the perfect distance away, Shirou hurled Kanshou and Bakuya at her before moving in a clockwise direction. The moment Pyrrha deflected the attack and the weapons were out of her sight, Shirou projected another pair and hurled them at her as well. Pyrrha was forced to stop and focus on defending against the onslaught of hurled weapons as Shirou slowly circled her.

After the sixth set had been thrown and the circle was nearly complete, Shirou charged forward with a seventh set and leapt into the air. While his plunging attack was predictably blocked, he stilled smirked even as Pyrrha's eyes widened when she noticed the six sets of married blades hurtling toward her from every angle. Her eyes widened even further as she tried and failed to control Shirou with her Semblance but she managed to recover in time to physically push him away. While her attempt to defend herself from the onslaught was admirable, Shirou had thrown each of them with just enough power to where they'd hit her all at once. With so many attacks coming from so many directions near-simultaneously, she had no choice but to take most of the attacks head-on, the force of the multiple impacts shattering her defenses and making her drop to her knees while Shirou landed a few meters away from her.

Shirou took a few deep breaths, feeling a little lightheaded after expending so much prana so quickly, and quickly took up his defensive stance as Pyrrha stood back up, this time wreathed in a metallic red aura. Miló and Akoúo̱ began floating as Miló, in its javelin form, slid into a slot in Akoúo̱'s center. **"Finishing Move,"** Pyrrha called as she drew her right arm back and the sword-and-shield combo began to spin rapidly, **"Drill Breaker!"**

Pyrrha launched herself forward at high speeds, her right arm outstretched as her feet never touched the ground. Acting quickly, Shirou spun and tossed Kanshou behind him while thrusting Bakuya into the ground before projecting a new pair, pouring prana into them until them Broke and elongated until they took on the appearance of angel wings. Shirou crossed the Overedge forms of Kanshou and Bakuya in front of him just in time to block Pyrrha's Soul Surge. Sparks rained off the point were the weapons met and Shirou grunted as he felt himself start to slide back. With a roar of effort and another thrust of her hand, Pyrrha pushed forward with greater force and was rewarded as Kanshou and Bakuya shattered and Shirou and the snow around him were sent into the air from the attack.

Pyrrha slid to a stop and separated her weapons, breathing heavily as she returned them to her hands. She turned around as Shirou collided heavily with the ground and watched in satisfaction as a wave of silver passed over his body. She was about to say something when she took notice of where Bakuya was embedded into the ground. Her confusion quickly gave away to shock, however, as she heard a buzzing sound getting closer. As tired as she was, she didn't even have enough time to turn around before it collided with her back, knocking her down even as a wave of metallic red passed over her.

(A/N: End song.)

"That. Was. So. AWESOME!" Ruby Rose shouted a few minutes later once both fighters had rested a bit. The two teams plus Shirou were currently huddled near the edge of the clearing, the two fighters sitting down resting against a tree. "I didn't know that you guys could even _move_ like that and you were so all over the place so quickly that I almost couldn't keep up!"

"It _was_ impressive," Ren said as he handed Pyrrha a water bottle that she took with as much grace as she could muster (which was to say not much). Blake handed one to Shirou who accepted it with a nod.

"As cool as all that was— and, believe me, it was _really_ cool— there's still a minor problem: We have no idea who won! I couldn't see the end there because of all that snow," Yang said as she walked to the front of the group.

Shirou grimaced around his water bottle before swallowing and speaking up, "My Aura broke first so that makes Pyrrha the winner."

Ruby practically deflated while Blake grimaced. Yang, meanwhile, looked particularly smug and went to gloat but was stopped when Pyrrha spoke up, "That may be true but that attack you launched before my Soul Surge hit broke my Aura right after. Since your attack happened before your Aura broke, I think it still counts. I'd say this was a draw."

Shirou hummed, "Maybe but the agreed-upon terms were to the first Aura break. That means I lose."

"Maybe but I'd feel bad for accepting a victory like that. It was way too close to call a definitive victory and, if we had been using our Aura monitors to officially determine the outcome, the changes would be so close together that they'd happen on the screen at the same time. Thus, the official ruling would be a draw."

Shirou grimaced. It felt a bit like accepting a handout but he couldn't deny the logic of her statement. "Alright, then. I guess we can call it a draw."

"Well, that's just great," Yang said with a harrumph as she crossed her arms under her breasts, "but what about our bets? If it's a draw then nobody won!"

"I guess we'll just have to call the bets off," Blake said, trying to hide her joy at not being out 50 lien.

"Oh, I don't think so," Nora said as she placed her fist on her hips, looking for all the world like a cat that got the cream. "Weiss, if you check the sheet, I think you'll find that there _was_ someone who bet on this outcome!"

Weiss blinked a few times before pulling out her scroll and opening the document that had everyone's bets. _"Are you kidding me‽"_ she cried out once she read through them. Ruby and Jaune both peered over the heiress' shoulders and have much the same reaction.

"That's right! Pay up! _I'm_ queen of this castle and it's tax day, baby!"

Much grumbling and nearly 300 lien later, Shirou still couldn't help but feel like this had been a mistake.

OoOoOoO

Shirou sighed as he made his way to the roof of his dorm building. It was a few hours after his duel with Pyrrha and the other redhead had messaged him asking to talk with him in private. It was a highly unusual request and he had no idea what she wanted to talk about but it made him more than a little apprehensive.

Reaching the roof, Shirou opened the door and squinted as the wind rushed in. Pushing onward, he saw Pyrrha standing near the edge looking out over the rest of the grounds, her hands clasped in front of her waist and her usual ponytail blowing in the wind. Bathed as she was in the moonlight and with her features being softened by the school uniform she was wearing, Shirou had to admit that she was rather beautiful. It was no wonder that she was sought after by so many guys and, for a brief moment, Shirou felt his throat constrict as another school idol took Pyrrha's place, this one with long, black hair tied up in twintails.

Shirou shook his head and swallowed a few times to clear his throat before speaking, "Pyrrha."

Pyrrha turned around with a small smile but Shirou could tell that she'd been thinking heavily about something. "Hello, Shirou. I'm glad you could come. Sorry for asking you so late but this would keep me up all night and now seemed the best time to talk about it."

"That's fine," Shirou said as he stepped closer, "I'm not usually asleep for another hour or so anyway. What's on your mind?"

"Well, it's about our fight today and what you did."

"What I did?" Shirou asked as he tried to not let the sudden skyrocketing of his pulse show.

"Yes. I know you're pretty secretive which is why I decided to talk to you at night. I noticed that several things happened that seemed odd and didn't line up with what you said your Semblance is. Not only did your swords and armor suddenly lose their magnetic properties, you connected my shield to your vambrace via magnetism— I could feel its force trying to counter my own. Then there was the end of the fight. Despite your Aura being broken, your swords persisted. Since Semblances require our Aura to be used, anything created by your Semblance should have disappeared once your Aura was depleted."

Shirou cursed under his breath while pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut. He had been so wrapped up in the fight that he had let too much of his hand show. While the first thing was easy to explain away and he could _maybe_ skirt by on the second, that last item utterly violated the rules of how Semblances work and it's not like he had any Dust on him to try and use as an excuse. Not that said excuse would have worked in the first place.

"Oh, no, it's okay!" Pyrrha said quickly as she held her hands out in a placating gesture. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to! I was just curious, is all."

"No, you figured it out and it's my fault for not being more careful. You deserve to know. Just give me a moment. Trace, on." Not bothering to hide anything, Shirou projected a piece of white chalk before bending down and drawing on the roof, Pyrrha watching the proceedings in interested silence. When Shirou was done drawing a series of interconnected runes and shapes inside of a circle, he muttered an incantation, a weak pulse of magical energy that only he noticed spreading out over the rooftop. "Alright, we can talk freely now."

"What was that?" Pyrrha asked almost immediately, her eyes wide and sparkling with curiosity.

"It's a spell circle. The spell I just cast is a two-layered bounded field. The first layer is a simple alarm spell. If anyone touches that door, I'll be silently alerted. The second is a weak noise suppression spell. So long as we keep our voices at a normal level, no one will be able to hear us."

Pyrrha took a half-step back as her eyes widened even further, "You mean to tell me that—"

"That's right. Pyrrha, I am a Magus."


	21. V2C8: Confessions and Confronations

A/N: Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

"W-wait a minute, what do you mean you're a magus? Do you mean that you're a wizard or something?" Pyrrha Nikos asked, her expression one of deep confusion as she tried to wrap her head around what had just been said.

"Not technically but that's the gist of it. I'm someone who can utilize prana, or magical energy, in order to perform magecraft; that is to say, cast spells," Emiya Shirou explained.

Pyrrha grabbed the side of her head with one hand as she stared at the ground, "So, what you've been calling your Semblance is actually this… magecraft?"

"That's right. It's a branch of magecraft called Projection, or Gradation Air if you feel like being formal, but my particular version of it when I project swords and other weapons is called Tracing."

Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Pyrrha sat down on the roof, "This is— This is a lot to take in."

Shirou joined her by sitting seiza, his hands resting on his thighs. "I can explain the basics, if you want."

"I think that might help."

"This is a pretty complicated and deep subject so why don't you ask questions and I'll do my best to answer them?"

"Alright. What's magecraft?"

"Magecraft, also known as thaumaturgy, is basically spellcasting. It's the process of using prana to bring about a desired effect. It's kind of like science, in a way, but a science that only people with Magic Circuits can do."

"What did you mean when you said you weren't technically a wizard?"

Shirou took a moment to gather his thoughts before taking a deep breath. "That's because a Wizard or Sorcerer is someone who does something that's impossible even with magecraft. Take, for example, the chalk I made earlier. While the process I used to make that chalk could be considered miraculous, the end result wasn't. That piece of chalk was no different than a piece of chalk you could buy from a store. Same goes for the spell circle. While the sound of our voices is currently being blocked by it, the effect is no different than that which a sufficiently thick or dense wall could produce.

"With a Wizard, however, things are different. Not only is the process miraculous, the result is as well. A Wizard is someone who is capable of True Magic or Sorcery. For example, bringing someone back from the dead— which is to say returning their soul to their body— is considered True Magic since it is a feat that is outside the World's purview— it's unnatural. Even if given infinite time and resources, a magus cannot replicate True Magic using magecraft."

By this point, Pyrrha had copied Shirou's pose and was listening intently. "Can anyone become a magus?"

"I don't think so. If you're born without Magic Circuits, you can't get any naturally. There _might_ be a way to give a normal person Magic Circuits but it's probably extremely dangerous and not worth the effort."

"What, exactly, are Magic Circuits?"

Shirou paused for a moment as he searched around for the right words. He'd never had to explain magecraft to someone else before— the closest he had ever come had been explaining the specifics of his magecraft to Tohsaka— so he wasn't entirely certain how to go about it. It was a bit hard to do on his own so he instead tried his best to imagine how Tohsaka would have explained things to him (his memories of Kiritsugu explaining all of this were too faded to be of any use).

"Magic Circuits are kind of like the nervous system of the soul. They're channels through which life energy— Od— is transformed into magical energy— prana. They're also used to store magical energy and to change mana— the life energy of the World— into prana."

"So, you're currently using your Od to maintain this… What did you call it? Bounded field?"

"Actually, no. I used it to activate the spell but it is currently being maintained by mana. So long as there's mana in the atmosphere, it'll keep existing until something stops it."

"Does the same thing apply to your swords?"

"No. Projection is a bit special. You see, items created via projection don't technically exist. They're phantasms; images. Because they're not supposed to exist, the World fights back against them and tries to destroy them. Because of that, projected items will only last for so long. Exactly how long depends on a number of things. That chalk I projected, and thus the spell circle I drew with it, will last," Shirou hummed in thought, "maybe three or four hours.

"My swords, however, are different. Due to the way my Tracing works, anything I make with it can exist for an incredibly long time. Regular items can last pretty much indefinitely while magical items last a number of hours depending on a few things."

"So, the chalk is only going to last four hours because you projected it instead of tracing it."

"Exactly. Tracing takes additional effort and energy which I didn't feel was necessary here."

"Have you told anyone else?"

"Professor Ozpin knows. I don't know if he told anyone else but you're the only other person I've told this to."

"Why don't you at least tell our friends?"

"I might one day and I absolutely will if that knowledge becomes important but I probably won't if I don't have to. Secrecy is my best weapon; it always has been and that's true for any magus. The fewer people who know about what I can do, the better."

"Is there anything else you can do?"

"Yes but not much. I'm a third-rate magus by most measures. I can only do the most basic stuff and even that's pretty limited. I had to draw a magic circle to produce this bounded field when even a beginner could have produced it with just an incantation."

"Well…" Pyrrha looked around a bit while chewing on her bottom lip, "Is there any way you can tell if I have Magic Circuits?"

"Yeah. In fact, I can do that right now," Shirou said as he got up, taking a moment to stretch.

"Do you need me to stand up?" Pyrrha asked as Shirou approached her and started to walk behind her.

"It would help but it's not necessary." Once Pyrrha had stood up, Shirou placed his hand on the center of his back and focused, releasing a pulse of magical energy through her. After a few seconds, he stepped back and shook his head. "I'm sorry but you don't."

"Well, that's a shame but thank you for checking. And thank you for telling me all of this."

"It's no problem. It would have been rude to brush you off after you figured out something was up."

"Thanks anyway. Well, I think we should get back to our rooms. It's getting late."

"That's a good idea. I don't know about you but I'm still pretty tired from our fight. I think I'll stay up a bit longer, though. I've got a lot to think about."

"Alright. Try not to stay up too late. Good night, Shirou."

"Good night, Pyrrha."

OoOoOoO

Cinder Fall smiled as she walked down the halls of one of Beacon's dorm buildings, heading toward her "team's" room. Things had been going incredibly smoothly the past few months— that business on the docks and with the Paladin notwithstanding— and she had to fight to keep any smugness from showing. It amazed her how easy it had been to infiltrate Beacon right under Ozpin's nose and then keep working once there. She had no idea why Salem was so wary of that doddering old fool when assassinating him would be child's play.

Still, Cinder knew better than to question orders. People had died for less, after all. If Salem wanted to destroy Ozpin's spirit and make him live with the knowledge of how utterly powerless he is then so be it. It didn't really matter to her one way or the other. So long as the old world was torn down, Cinder was happy.

Entering her room, Cinder came upon a familiar sight. Emerald Sustrai was sitting on the floor in the center of the room, hard at work on an infinitely complicated runic array, while Mercury Black laid upon his bed, thumbing through some comic book he had no doubt stolen.

"How went the recon?" Cinder asked as she sauntered on over to her bed, careful not to disturb Emerald's work.

Mercury growled, "It didn't. Pyrrha fought some punk named Shirou and their fight lasted until the end of class. Even if there'd been enough time, she was too weak for me to challenge her."

Cinder's eyebrow went up with mild interest, "You mean someone here was actually a challenge for the invincible girl?"

Mercury haphazardly tossed aside the comic before crossing his arms under his head, "More than a challenge. Guy almost won."

"He's not worth adding to the list, though," Emerald said as she took a break, setting aside blood-ladened paintbrush she had been using. "He's pretty well known inside this school but almost completely unknown outside of it. Aside from his encounters with Roman, there was almost nothing on him."

"Hey, are you _sure_ it's smart to be doing that out in the open?" Mercury asked as he peered down skeptically at Emerald.

Emerald scoffed, "I already told you that this room's protected by a bounded field. Anyone who approaches it will be compelled to keep moving past it and anyone who looks inside will just see a regular room."

"Yeah, I know you said all that but I still don't trust this magecraft of yours. It freaks me out."

"Setting that aside," Cinder said, cutting off Emerald's retort, "how is your work coming, Emerald?"

Emerald smiled up at Cinder, "Pretty well. These materials are high quality and the mana here is pretty dense. At this rate, I should be finished ahead of schedule."

"Perfect. Keep it up. Mercury, I still want you to learn Pyrrha's Semblance. I'd _hate_ to have to use one of our backups."

"Yeah, yeah," Mercury said with a dismissive wave before pulling out his Scroll.

"What about you? How are your preparations going?" Emerald asked as she returned to her work after getting a kink out of her back.

"Perfectly. We've got a _very_ fun weekend ahead of us."

OoOoOoO

Jaune grunted as he slid back, his feet digging through the light dusting of snow and into the ground beneath as the moonlight illuminated the clearing from the day before. Pyrrha came at him at an angle, trying to get around his guard while his stance was locked, but he surprised her by recovering faster than she expected and slashing at her open side. Though surprised, Pyrrha easily managed to deflect the attack before dropping down and taking out Jaune's legs with a sweeping kick.

Undeterred, Jaune rolled backward the second he hit the ground and brought his shield up to block Pyrrha's thrust. Pushing her weapon aside, he countered with a thrust of his own but Pyrrha simply copied his maneuver before leaping back to avoid the kick aimed at the side of her knee.

"Very well done, Jaune!" Pyrrha said with a light laugh as she dropped her stance. Jaune immediately fell out of his as well, struggling to catch his breath. "Your swordsmanship is improving at an incredible rate."

Jaune straightened up as he brought his breathing under control and wiped the sweat from his brow. While it wasn't surprising, it still bothered him a little that Pyrrha looked like she had only taken a brisk walk. "I dunno," he said with a shake of his head. "It still feels like something's off."

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"It feels like… like there's a… a switch inside me whenever I fight lately. I can feel that switch being pushed but, no matter what I do, it just doesn't flip."

Pyrrha hummed as she crossed her arms. "I can't really say I know what that feels like but I'm sure that you can figure something out. Even I didn't pick up on things this quickly, after all."

"Well, you probably didn't have an amazing teacher like I do," Jaune said with a smile.

Pyrrha blushed as her smile became slightly shy, "Thank you but it's not that. It really is a shame you didn't go to one of the smaller Hunter schools earlier. You have a level of raw talent I've rarely seen."

"Well, maybe," Jaune allowed as he transformed his shield and sheathed his sword, "but, if I did, things might not have turned out this way and I wouldn't want that."

Pyrrha's blush deepened but she pushed on, "How about we move on to Aura training?"

This time, it was Jaune's turn to blush, "Actually, Pyrrha, before that, I've got something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked as she eyed Jaune with interest.

"Well, ya see, the thing is, you're a really great girl and I really look up to you and you've helped me out so much and I was wondering if, maybe, ya know, you'd like to go to the dance with me?" Jaune said, his words becoming faster as he went.

"Wh-what?"

"Oh, it's okay if you don't want to! You don't _have_ to or anything! In fact, I'd be amazed if you didn't already have a date! You probably do! It's okay! We can just… pretend this never happened!"

"No, wait!" Pyrrha shouted as she grabbed Jaune's retreating form by the sleeve. He turned back to look at her; surprise, hope, and fear written all over his expression. "Jaune, I'd _love_ to go to the dance with you."

"R-really? You mean it?" Jaune asked, his eyes as wide as saucers.

Pyrrha smiled shyly at him, "Yes, Jaune. I meant it."

Jaune stared at her for a few seconds more before rushing in and enveloping her in a hug. Pyrrha froze for a moment, startled by the suddenness of the action, before reciprocating.

"Thanks, Pyrrha," Jaune whispered into her ear. "For everything."

OoOoOoO

Ruby Rose stood outside the door of Emiya Shirou's room, wringing her hands behind her as she rocked back and forth on her heels. She had been putting this off for the past couple days, always finding a convenient excuse to put it off, but Yang had put her foot down and practically forced her to take that first step.

Ruby breathed in deeply through her nose before exhaling through her mouth. She had stared down massive Grimm by herself before. Slain countless Beowolves. Thrown herself at giant robots. Surely she could handle something as simple as this, right? Gathering up her nerves, Ruby resolutely reached out to the door and lightly rapped on it once. Content with the knowledge that she had tried and Shirou wasn't in his room, she immediately spun away and started to leave.

She didn't get to take one step before that delusion was shattered.

"Just a minute!" she heard Shirou call out from inside. Swallowing down the lump in her throat, Ruby spun back around in time for Shirou to open the door. "Oh, Ruby. What can I do for you?"

From the way his slightly damp shirt clung to his frame, it was evident that the older boy had just gotten out of the shower and that did nothing to help the heat creeping up her neck. "Sh-shirou! Y-you're here! Um. Hi! Um. I was just kinda sorta wondering if maybe you were busy this Saturday?" Ruby asked as she forced herself to look at his face and not stammer too much.

Shirou crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. "Why do you ask?" he said, his tone neutral.

"Oh, well, um, if you weren't busy— you know, if you didn't have anything else to do that day— I was wondering if maybe you wouldn't mind going to the dance with me?" Ruby asked, her voice becoming steadily more high pitched as she went. During that entire question, she kept her eyes well away from him but a quick glance thrown his way at the end revealed nothing. He still had that same gentle smile that he almost always had.

"As a friend?" Shirou asked with a slight tilt of his head.

Ruby ducked her head low and started poking her index fingers together, "No, more like a… a… date."

Shirou was silent for an agonizingly long second before speaking up, "I have quite a few projects going on at the moment that I need to double check. Do you mind if I answer your question later?"

"Oh, of course! Take your time! Well, I mean, don't take _too_ much time since the dance is kinda in two days but, you know, so long as it's between tonight and the day after tomorrow you can take all the time you need!" Ruby said animatedly as she tried to wrangle the overwhelming storm of emotions inside her.

"Thank you. I'll be sure to get back to you as soon as possible. Good night, Ruby."

"Good night, Shirou!" Ruby said before slowly walking away. Once she heard his door shut, she let her shoulders slump and face fall. That wasn't an outright rejection but it wasn't an acceptance either. What could those projects be, anyway? She'd never seen him work on something outside of school before.

Regardless, Ruby tried to keep her spirits up. It was still possible that he'd accept, right?

OoOoOoO

The second the door was shut and Ruby's footsteps had faded, Shirou nearly collapsed, barely holding himself up by the door handle as he started hyperventilating. Unable to remain standing, he turned around to lean against the door before sliding down it, his right hand clutching his shirt over his chest.

This couldn't be happening. This shouldn't be happening. Why was this happening? He was supposed to be a stranger. An outsider. Always remaining at the periphery, helping people whenever they needed it and slinking back when his work was done. The person he was assigned to watch over wasn't supposed to fall in love with him. He was perfectly fine with being her friend but asking for anything more was just…

Shirou closed his eyes and turned his sight inward, desperately seeking out the only proof he had of Saber's existence. Avalon thrummed gently inside him, its radiant energy seeping through him and working to calm his frantically beating heart. This was okay. This was fine. He just needed a good excuse to be anywhere but Beacon this Saturday and everything would be fine. He would apologize to Ruby, the dance would happen, and then he could pretend nothing had happened when he got back. Ruby's feelings might be hurt in the short term but that was perfectly acceptable.

Fishing out his Scroll, Shirou sent a message to Ozpin before closing his eyes again and trying to slow down his heart rate. After a few minutes, he got his reply and shook himself before setting off.

OoOoOoO

"I need a mission for this weekend," Shirou said the second he was in Ozpin's office.

"And miss the dance? Whatever for?" Ozpin asked while pouring two mugs of cocoa. Judging by the knowing look on his face, the smug bastard somehow knew damn well what had just happened.

Shirou politely took the offered cup but didn't drink from it. "Something has come up and I need a reason to not be here," he said with a tone of finality.

Ozpin took a long drink from his cup, his brown eyes focused calmly on Shirou whose agitation steadily grew. "I'm afraid that's not possible," he said after a long moment.

"There must be something going on. Random Grimm attacks, a bandit encampment, someone to spy on, something. I'll even look into Roman's little gang on a more official basis."

"Oh, there's plenty going on but it's simply just not possible for me to send you on a mission right now. There are countless pieces currently in motion and even one mistake on my part could be disastrous. Even as we speak, Salem's pawns are closing in on this city and even this very academy. Where you are right now is exactly where you need to be."

"Even so, surely there's no real difference between me being at this school and me being in the City of Vale."

"Shirou," Ozpin said, his voice starting to show signs of exasperation, "even if you have an excuse to not attend the dance, that won't make Ruby's feelings for you go away."

Shirou carried on, not even caring enough to ask how the headmaster knew that, "That may be true but all she did was ask me to the dance. If I can avoid going to that, I can just ignore the implications and pretend nothing happened."

"If you're this averse to going with her, why not just reject her proposal?"

"Because I don't want to hurt her feelings," Shirou said quickly.

"And you think this won't?" Ozpin asked, taking another drink from his mug.

"I—" the words caught in Shirou's throat before he could embarrass himself. He had already admitted to himself that this would hurt her feelings. He would have to be a complete idiot to not see how this would affect her. It would probably hurt her far more than a simple rejection would.

Ozpin put down his mug and leaned forward, his fingers intertwined on his desk as he peered over the frame of his glasses at the young man, "Why do you want to avoid the dance so badly? From what I can see, the two of you get along very well."

Shirou stared down into the dark liquid of his cooling cup of cocoa as his voice became very small, "I don't want to betray her."

Ozpin didn't need to ask who this "her" was. He already knew the full details of Shirou's history. Instead, he leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "I can fully understand your position. Betraying the memory of a loved one can plague you with some of the worst guilt imaginable. But don't you think that you're already doing that?"

" _What?_ " Shirou's head snapped up, his voice and expression filled with no small amount of venom.

"Tell me, Shirou. What were Saber's last words to you?"

Shirou's expression fell as he recalled that bloody scene, "'Don't stop living.'"

"And Rin's?"

Shirou's body slumped as his face became pale, "'You've got to keep living.'"

"And Taiga's?"

Shirou's body slumped further as the mug hung loose in his hands, some of the liquid spilling onto the floor, "'Please keep living.'"

"And Illyasviel's?"

The mug clattered on the floor as all of the strength left Shirou's body, his pale face covered in a cold sweat, "'Keep living, onii-chan."

"All of those people who loved you asked you keep living. What you're doing right now isn't living, Shirou. It's surviving. In all my years, I've never met someone as contradictory as you are. You wish to keep on living for their sake yet perhaps the one thing you want most in this world is to die. You throw yourself into mission after mission, no matter how dangerous it may be, in the hope that your skill will fail you and your luck will run out. You want to be a part of your friends' lives and yet you want to keep a safe distance from them and not let them be a part of yours.

"Shirou, the pain you're going through is immense. You've seen more hell in the span of two weeks than most people will see in multiple lifetimes. The fact that you keep going in spite of that and are still trying to do good in this world is nothing short of amazing. I've seen valiant people break under far less. Yet, despite that, you don't allow yourself to live. Only survive.

"Sleep on the matter, Shirou. Meditate on it if you can't. Saber may be the person who sits on the throne of your heart and she may be there until the end of your days but that doesn't mean there can't be room for someone else. It's just one date, Shirou, one dance. If it doesn't work out then there's nothing wrong with it. Plenty of people go on one date and decide that there's nothing there. You need to start living, Shirou. Not for the sake of those who died where you didn't but for your own sake."

Shirou was silent for a long moment before slowly standing up. With slow, mechanical movements, he crouched down and projected a cloth, using it to soak up the spilt cocoa. Once the floor was clean, he stuffed the cloth into the mug before dismissing it, the liquid splashing a bit as it settled. Placing the mug on Ozpin's desk, he bowed to the man before leaving the office.

Once Shirou was gone, Ozpin sighed deeply. He truly understood the boy's pain, perhaps better than anyone else on the planet, but that was all the more reason for him to push him like this. It had taken him an awfully long time to learn the lesson he was trying to convey and Shirou simply couldn't have that much time. He could only hope that the young man could come to terms with his grief before his strength gave out.

If he couldn't, Emiya Shirou would certainly die.

* * *

A/N: Bit of a shorter chapter this time and one that's full of exposition but I thought it necessary. One of my goals with all of my fics is that someone who has no knowledge, or next-to-no knowledge, of the source material can read it and understand everything important to the story. Big shoutouts to my friend SSVCloud for this chapter. He always proofreads my stuff anyway but he was very helpful for this one since he knows basically nothing about Fate. As such, he was incredibly helpful for the conversation between Shirou and Pyrrha.

That aside, between the end of this chapter and the beginning of V2C6, I really hope that you guys can understand just how damaged this Shirou is and why some of his actions may seem a bit strange. This damage has been central to Shirou's character up to this point and shall remain so for quite some time. While this is true for Shirou in canon, it's even more so here.

We also have the big reveal that Emerald is a magus. Since this fic is all about canon blending rather than just plopping Shirou into RWBY, it's only natural that other people in the story also be capable of magecraft and Emerald seemed perfect for it. Also, while his murder wasn't shown, the blood that she's using for her runic array is Tukson's.


	22. V2C9: The Game of Emotions

A/N: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

Ruby Rose sat at a table in the main room of the Royal Veronica Hall, her head resting on her right arm while her outstretched left flicked at a pencil every time it rolled back. It was now Friday afternoon and her team sans Blake were putting the finishing touches on their plans for the dance the following day. Due to the extenuating circumstances of their appointment, they had been given the entire day off from classwork in order to finish it but that had actually frustrated the young leader.

Ruby hadn't slept well that night, her anxiety getting the better of her, and all of the plans she had made to address her anxiety at the source fell apart when they were informed of their free day. Emiya Shirou hadn't shown up for breakfast and, since they weren't attending classes, it would be awkward for her to try and corner him in the halls. Given the distance involved, it had also been impractical to try and meet with him during lunchtime. A text conversation she had with Jaune around that time revealed that he hadn't been present then anyway (Jaune had been under the impression that Shirou had decided to take lunch to Team RWBY) and it was only his reassurance that Shirou had been in class that prevented her from fearing the worst. Not that her current situation was much better.

That wasn't her only cause for concern, either. Blake Belladonna had also been moodier than usual and was currently refusing to even so much as help with preparations for the dance beyond carrying a few items to the airship that morning. While it wasn't as bad as she feared it may have been— at least she was getting some sleep— it still worried her that her teammate wasn't letting herself relax for even one day. While she understood the urgency of their situation, even she knew that you needed to take a break every now and then.

The sound of heels clacking on the hardwood floor broke Ruby from her thoughts. "I need _you_ to pick a tablecloth," Weiss Schnee said with a smile as she placed two white swatches of material before her leader.

Ruby eyed them for a moment before saying "Aren't they the same?" in a fairly disinterested tone. She expected her partner to grow frustrated and storm off but was surprised when, instead, she pushed the swatches aside and pulled up a seat.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked as she placed a hand over Ruby's extended one.

Ruby gave Weiss a tired smile, "Not really but I'll be fine."

"Is this about Shirou?"

Ruby opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted when Yang Xiao Long spoke up, Weiss quickly removing her hand at the sound. "I really need to deck that jerk next time I see him," she said as she sat down the speaker that was larger than she was, the resulting thud causing the table and chairs to jump slightly. "I honestly thought that he was just going to reject you. Didn't think he was going to leave you hanging like this."

Ruby raised her head as her brow furrowed in confusion, "You thought he was going to reject me?"

"Well, honestly, yeah. He doesn't strike me as the dating type. I told you to go for it anyway because I could have been wrong and it would have been a good experience for you to have either way."

"I'm also worried about Blake," Ruby said with a slight scowl, both not wanting to talk about Shirou anymore and not being sure how to feel about what her sister said. "I still can't think of any way to change her mind."

"You're not the only one," Weiss said as she rubbed at her forehead. "I understand her reasoning, I truly do— I doubt that there are many people who want to stop the White Fang more than I do— but I just can't seem to get her to understand _our_ reasoning."

"Guys, don't worry about it. Trust me; Blake _will_ be at the dance tomorrow night," Yang said as she walked off to give a certain kitty cat a dose of reality.

And maybe clobber a certain redhead along the way.

OoOoOoO

Blake Belladonna stared at the screen in front of her, only half reading what was on it. She let out a tired sigh when she realized that she had reread a sentence three times, rubbing at her eyes and grabbing the nearby coffee cup. She growled when she found the cup to be empty and tossed it into the nearby recycle bin before trying to focus on the screen again.

It had been ten days since the battle against Roman in the Paladin and they had made an amazing lack of progress into the investigation. They knew that the White Fang were operating out of a base somewhere in the southeast outside the kingdom and that they were stealing from the Schnee Dust Company to supply their group. After some group discussions and research, they had also narrowed down their possible location to four places: Melton, Astral, Mountain Glenn, and Kurotsuchi. Each of those places were abandoned settlements near-ish the City of Vale and thus, by their reasoning, would be the perfect place to stage something.

The problem was that they still had no idea what that something was. They had already burnt through all of their contacts and exhausted every possible lead. Since they were still students, they couldn't just head to those places themselves and they had no one they could ask to go for them. As it was, Blake was spending an inordinate amount of time on the internet, trolling through obscure message boards and blog posts in a vain hope that she could find a recruiter or a member who'd let something slip but all of her efforts turned up nothing. The others were hoping that they'd get lucky and could join a Hunter for a mission in that region when they had their first outing next week but Blake couldn't just do nothing until then.

Blake growled as she hit another dead end but her thoughts came to a sudden halt when a little red dot appeared on her screen. She watched in confusion and irritation as it moved up and down before dropping down to her hand and disappearing. She quickly spun around in her seat, trying to see who had the gall to bother her, but everyone at the tables behind her were glued to whatever they were doing. After a few seconds, she turned back around and started typing away, hoping that maybe _this_ combination of search terms would turn up something after twenty pages of results, only for the dot to appear on her hand again.

Blake spun back around in her chair but, again, there was no clear culprit (although, a few people were now sending her strange looks at her odd behavior). She turned back around to her computer, muttering darkly about how she was going to claw the eyes out of whoever was messing with her, only to pause when she saw the dot going in circles on her screen. She scowled and pounded the table, abruptly standing up as she watched the dot zoom to the floor. With a single-minded focus, Blake glared at the dot and followed it, her frustration mounting as she rounded the corner of one of the bookshelves and straight into Yang Xiao Long.

"Hello~" Yang said in a sing-song voice as she waved at her partner, a laser pointer in her right hand.

"Yang? What are you—" Blake's question was cut off as the blonde grabbed her by the arm.

"We need to talk," Yang said as she whisked the Faunus off.

A few minutes later, Blake found herself in one of Beacon's empty classrooms. Yang took a seat on the teacher's desk and let out a small sigh, the light from the late afternoon sun casting her features in a gentle orange glow. Blake paused for a moment, letting the scene before her be burnt into her mind, before walking forward to be in front of her partner.

"Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath," Blake said with more than a little heat.

Yang crossed her legs and gave her partner a calm smile, "I don't want you to stop, I want you to slow down."

Blake opened her mouth to respond but bit back her gut response. Getting angry with and shouting at her partner wouldn't accomplish anything. Yang was only looking out for her well-being so she should at least hear her out first.

When Blake said nothing, Yang continued, "We already have a plan of attack. We know what we're going to do next. I know it's hard but what we need to do right now is just take it easy and relax so that way, when the time comes, we can go in and go in hard. If Roman and the White Fang are at wherever we end up going, we need to be at the top of our game."

"I _know_ that but there's still so much we don't know! If we can figure out what they're up to, we can stop them that much easier and maybe even that much quicker!"

"And I get that but we've already exhausted all of our other options. You won't be doing anyone any favors if you're a wreck come Monday."

"But I _need_ to stop them as quickly as possible! I _need_ to stop them before they hurt anyone! Roman's already escaped twice because of me, I can't let him hurt anyone else!"

Yang paused and looked down, searching through her mind for the right words. While she wanted to deny Blake's claim of fault, she knew that doing so would be a waste of time. She was a lot like Ruby and Shirou in that, once she decided to take the blame for something, convincing her otherwise was nearly impossible.

After a moment, Yang came to a decision and patted the desk next to her. "Sit down," she said gently. "Let me tell you a story." Blake looked confused but complied nonetheless. "I… nearly got Ruby killed once." Blake's eyes widened with shock but she remained silent. "You see, we grew up in this little place called Patch, a small island off the coast of Vale. Our parents were both Hunters; Dad taught at Signal while Mom did missions. One day, Mom went out on a mission and… never came home." Blake gently placed her hand on Yang's while Yang looked past the empty classroom before her and into her memories.

"It was tough. Ruby was really torn up over it but she was only, like, four at the time so she didn't really understand why Mom wasn't coming back. But Dad? Dad just kinda shut down. It was because Summer Rose wasn't his first love. His first was Raven Branwen; _my_ mom. He wouldn't tell me everything but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow and that she'd left me with him right after I was born. No one had seen her since."

Blake tightened her grip on her partner's hand as her eyes widened again in surprise. "Why did she leave you?" she asked quietly, afraid to break the somber mood that had fallen over Yang.

Yang sighed as she turned her hand over to interlace her fingers with Blake's. "That's the question I've been asking myself every day since then. At first, it was all I could think about. I spent nearly every waking moment trying to find out more about her, about where she went, about _why_ she went. Then, one day, I had a lead. There was a shack out in the forest that she used to visit; why, I don't know. So, I waited for Dad to leave the house before I put Ruby in a wagon and headed out.

"I walked for hours. I didn't know exactly where this place was beyond a vague direction and there was no real path. I was totally exhausted but I wasn't going to let anything stop me. When we finally got there, I could barely stand, but I didn't care; I had made it. And then I saw them. Those _burning_ red eyes… There we were: A toddler sleeping in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We might as well have been served on a silver platter. But, as luck would have it, our uncle showed up just in time— Dad had asked him to help look for us. My stubbornness should have gotten us killed that night."

Blake watched as Yang pulled herself out of her memories and turned to face her, her smile a touch melancholic. "I might not understand what you've been through, Blake, but I think I understand what you're going through right now. Pace yourself, Blake. Keep looking for your answers, keep trying to stop him to save others, but don't forget those around you. I don't want to see you killed."

This time, it was Blake's turn to look down as she thought about what Yang was getting at with her story. Despite Yang's statement at the end, she knew that, should she make the same mistake Yang did, it'd be Yang who'd end up hurt or worse. Yang or any of her other friends. They'd do everything in their power to keep her safe and she wasn't sure if she could live with any more blood on her hands.

After a long moment, Blake spoke up, "Even if I wanted to go to the dance, it's not like I have anyone to go with."

Yang's smile became a bit more tender at this, "Then why not go with me?"

Blake looked at her partner out of the corner of her eye, "As a friend or…?"

"That's up to you."

Blake was silent for a moment longer as a million different emotions pulled her in a million different ways. "I think I'd like that," she finally said as she gave her partner a weak smile.

Yang smiled a bit more fully as she pulled Blake into a tender hug which, after a moment, Blake returned. "Thanks, Blake," Yang said quietly into her Human ear.

Blake felt herself slowly relax for the first time in days as Yang's unusually warm body enveloped her like the world's most comfortable blanket. "No, I should be the one thanking you for putting up with me," she whispered back.

"I'm not 'putting up' with you, silly. You're my partner and my best friend. I'd do anything for you."

Blake hugged Yang that much tighter.

OoOoOoO

Emiya Shirou leaned back in the chair in his room, mindlessly staring up at the ceiling as copious notes lay strewn about the desk before him. It had been a very long day and so Shirou was trying to do some studying to relax but it wasn't helping. His thoughts were too consumed by Ruby's proposal and Ozpin's words. He instinctively wanted to deny Ozpin's words, to say he _was_ living because he was doing exactly what he wanted to do, but a little voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Tohsaka Rin was stopping him.

Thinking back, Shirou realized that Tohsaka had said something similar to him a lifetime ago. It was a conversation they had shortly after Shirou had summoned Saber. Shirou had told her, after some pressing, just what his usual day looked like and it left Fuyuki's Second Owner flabbergasted. When he confirmed that his schedule had been pretty much the same since he was nine, she became positively concerned. As if desperately grasping for one last shred of sanity, she had asked if he was at least enjoying himself. His confused response, for he had no idea what that had to do with anything, made her completely shut down and walk away.

After that incident, the conversation wasn't broached again until just before Shirou's disastrous date with Saber. Tohsaka had asked him why he was so insistent that Saber enjoyed herself and his reply of "Because she needs to have fun and see herself as more than just a weapon or a king" left her wide-eyed.

"So, why are you doing this?" Rin had asked, setting down her teacup.

Shirou had replied immediately as though the answer was obvious, "I need to save her."

"From herself?"

"If I have to." Rin had went silent at this for a moment, staring into her tea, before wishing him luck.

At the time, Shirou had thought nothing of that conversation, focusing instead on trying to come up with something resembling a plan for that day but, in hindsight, he couldn't help but wonder what had been going through Tohsaka's head. After all, Shirou and Saber were two incredibly similar people despite having been born about fifteen hundred years apart. Both held similar ideals and both were willing to sacrifice everything they were for the sake of others. Yet, despite this, Shirou had seen that as a flaw in Saber's thinking but didn't see it as a flaw in his own.

Though it took some time, this hypocrisy hadn't been completely lost on Shirou. As the Holy Grail War had taken a turn for the worse and he started losing those close to him, Shirou had realized that his ideal of saving everyone was truly impossible. It would cost him everything and gain others little, if anything. His sacrifice would, in the end, be just as meaningless as the ones he had seen during that terrible fire he had experienced ten years prior. As such, though it troubled him greatly, he resolved to place those most important to him above all others. So long as they survived, so long as _Saber_ survived, it would be a victory.

Of course, even after devoting himself to selfishness, Emiya Shirou had failed to accomplish anything.

Regardless of that outcome, Shirou couldn't help but wonder if the position he was currently in was similar to that one. He would admit that he had resigned himself to the belief that he didn't deserve any of the happiness he had currently found. After his complete and total failure on Earth, he firmly believed that he didn't deserve anything. He had fully committed himself to carrying out Saber's ideals in her stead and save as many people in this bloody world as he possibly could. It was the only penance he could think of that was suitable for his failure and sin of survival.

Even in its final moments, the Holy Grail managed to have the last laugh and take away the only thing Shirou wanted.

That just left Ozpin's words. It was true that, as he was, Shirou was simply surviving rather than truly living. He never hung out with anyone. He never watched TV outside of the news. He didn't read anything that wasn't educational. The only thing outside of his kitchen that was superfluous was the shogi board he had purchased more for Blake's benefit on a whim and even that was currently collecting dust in his apartment. This fact is what had made Ruby's questioning of him nearly two weeks ago so awkward. Emiya Shirou firmly believed that he didn't deserve any happiness and thus he avoided anything that existed purely for that reason like the plague even more than he had on Earth.

This fact was the core of Shirou's current dilemma. He didn't deserve to go to the dance and have fun. Ruby Rose also didn't deserve to be drug down by him. Lastly, Shirou simply couldn't betray Saber's memory by going out with someone else. Not for the last time, Shirou lamented the fact that Ruby had explicitly asked him out on a date. Had she asked him out as a friend, he would simply see it has him doing this for her sake and would gladly agree much as he had when Velvet took him shopping that one time. While he didn't deserve any enjoyment, if he had fun in the process of helping someone else then he wasn't going to complain.

To put everything simply, Shirou had no idea what he should do. While he couldn't deny the truth of Ozpin's words, he also couldn't deny the truth of his own feelings. He still loved Saber will all of his heart and thus, while he _did_ see her as a good friend, he didn't have any feelings for Ruby. While she was a great person and they got along well and she was no doubt destined for great things, to have romantic feelings for her would mean betraying Saber and betraying Saber would mean that the Holy Grail War and his subsequent survival would be truly and completely devoid of meaning. Clinging to that past, as painful as it was, was the only way to ensure that it meant something in the end.

A familiar tingle at the base of Shirou's neck brought his thoughts to an end as his bounded field picked up someone approaching. Sitting up in his chair, he straightened his papers and made sure that anything concerning the Moonlit World was out of sight as whoever it was knocked on his door.

"Coming!" Shirou called out as he got up. The vague scent of lemon told him who it was and Shirou was more than a little curious as to what the other boy wanted. Last he checked, Jaune's relationship was Pyrrha was going very well, so what would make him seek out his help instead of hers?

Things became infinitely more confusing when Shirou opened the door to find not only Jaune standing there but also a very embarrassed Ren. Given the fact that the latter was wearing only a pink towel and was slightly damp, Shirou could only guess that Jaune had caught his teammate exiting the shower before dragging him off.

"We need to talk," Jaune said resolutely before practically forcing his way inside, dragging Ren along with him. Jaune sat down on Shirou's bed, Ren somewhat awkwardly sitting next to him, as Shirou closed the door and pulled up his chair.

"What about?" Shirou asked as he gave the embarrassed Ren a sympathetic smile. Come to think of it, it was perhaps the most expressive he'd ever seen Ren be.

"You guys are my best friends," Jaune began as he looked to be steeling himself for something. "These past few months, I feel like we've _really_ bonded. I may not know that much about either of you but, darnit, I consider you two to be the brothers I've never had!"

"And I you," Ren said with a nod and a smile as he sat aside his current embarrassment. For his part, Shirou simply smiled awkwardly at the declaration but neither of the others noticed.

"Which is why I wanted to get your advice on… girls."

"Girls?" Ren asked as Shirou fought down his rising apprehension.

"You see, I sort of asked Pyrrha to the dance yesterday and she said 'Yes' and I have _no_ idea what I'm doing!" Both of the other boys sat in stunned silence for a moment as that revelation sunk in. Eventually, Ren groaned and cradled his face in his hands. "What‽" Jaune said in a combination of frustration and a bit of hurt.

"I owe Nora twenty lien. I didn't think you'd have the courage to do it," Ren revealed.

"Well, thanks for the show of confidence, 'brother'!" Jaune took a breath before continuing, "Honestly, you would have been right. It's thanks to Shirou here that I did."

"Me? I don't recall telling you to do this."

"You didn't but do you remember that stuff you said last semester right after our meditation training?" An expression of understanding passed over Shirou's face as Jaune continued. "Well, that got me thinking a lot and made me a better friend for her but, eventually, I realized that I didn't just want to be her friend or her teammate or her partner. I wanted to be something more. So, even though I was terrified, I took that chance. I didn't want to live with any regrets."

"That was very brave of you, Jaune. Most people in your position wouldn't have been able to say anything. What was it you needed our help with, again?" Ren asked.

"I don't know what I'm doing!" Jaune cried out as he threw his arms up. "I've never been on a date before! I don't know what girls are like! I don't know what to say or do or anything!"

"I'm honestly not sure how much help I can be here," Ren confessed. "I've never been on a date before, either."

"But you and Nora are going out, aren't you? You must know _something_!"

Ren's embarrassment about being in the hallway in nothing but a towel was nothing compared to his current embarrassment. He immediately looked away from Jaune and started stammering halfway between a denial and noncommittal phrase as his face started heating up. Feeling bad for his friend, Shirou spoke up despite his own lingering issues.

"I've… been on one date before," Shirou said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"That's great! What was it like? What did you do? What can you tell me?" Jaune asked as he put all of his attention onto Shirou. Finally free from scrutiny, Ren gave Shirou a grateful smile.

"Well, I was in much the same position as you are," Shirou began, trying to focus purely on the happy memories and not on what came after. "We kinda just ran around all day doing things I thought she might like."

"How'd it turn out?" Shirou grimaced at Jaune's question as the memories came back. Jaune's eyes widened as he realized his mistake and quickly apologized. "O-oh, I'm sorry. I forgot."

"No, it's okay," Shirou brushed off his friend's concern with a shake of his head. Ren looked between Jaune and the melancholic Shirou but said nothing.

"So, uh, do either of you have any advice for me?"

Ren spoke first, "My best advice is to just be yourself. Pyrrha's clearly interested in you so it's not like you have to try to woo her." Shirou nodded in agreement.

"So, I won't mess anything up if I just be myself?" Jaune asked with a hint of doubt.

"You almost certainly will," Shirou said, "but don't worry about it. Everyone makes mistakes and, so long as you admit to them and apologize, Pyrrha should forgive you if she actually likes you. Which I'm pretty sure she does."

Jaune sighed and sat in silence for a moment as he absorbed all of this. After a time, he spoke up again, "So, what about you two? You guys going with anyone?"

"Nora and I will be going together as friends," Red said. Jaune gave him an incredulous look but Ren pointedly avoided his leader's gaze.

"I…" Shirou began only to quickly trail off. He really didn't know how much, if anything, he should reveal to his friends about Ruby's offer.

"C'mon, you can't tell me no one's offered. You're, like, the most popular guy in the school!" Jaune said.

"There's… been… an offer," Shirou said carefully, "but I don't know if I should accept."

"Why not? Do you not like her?" Ren asked, curious as to why Shirou was deliberately avoiding naming the girl.

"Well, I don't like her _that_ way but…" Shirou's mind raced as he warred with himself. On one hand, he really didn't want to drag anyone into his problems more so than he already had with Blake and Velvet. On the other, Ozpin's words kept gnawing at him. Maybe he _should_ try to open up a little more. "Ren, there was once this woman who I loved— who I _still_ love— but she… died some time ago. Ever since then, I've been carrying out her ideals, the ideals we shared, to honor her. I just feel like, if I accepted, I'd be betraying her memory and that's not something I can ever do."

Ren sat in shock for a moment as Jaune nodded, what he had suspected being all but confirmed. Ren chewed on his bottom lip and appeared indecisive for a moment before speaking. "I know what it's like to lose a loved one," he said, his voice quiet. "When I was young, my village was attacked by the Grimm. Nora and I were among the very few that survived but my parents… weren't so lucky. While I can't understand exactly what you're going through, I can definitely understand not wanting to betray the memory of a loved one. I think you should accept the offer, Shirou. Even if you don't like her _that_ way, you could still end up having a good time and, if your loved one was anything like my parents, she'd want you to be happy."

Shirou stared wide-eyed at Ren, not having expected this turn of events. While he knew very well that many towns on Remnant had fallen to the Grimm and that many people shared stories similar in nature to his own, his friends were generally so happy and almost carefree that it never once occurred to him that one of them could have been among that number.

While their experiences certainly weren't the same, how many people had Ren and Nora seen sacrificing themselves to save someone just for that person to then die shortly thereafter? How many people had sacrificed themselves so that Ren and Nora could keep on living? Shirou couldn't answer those questions and it wouldn't be right to ask. Still, the chances were high that both of those things had happened and yet both were still willing to pursue their own happiness.

Of course, even with that having been said, the idea of Emiya Shirou pursuing his own happiness felt wrong. He had attempted that once and the result had been Saber's blood staining his hands after he ran her black form through with Caliburn. In his mind, Emiya Shirou was someone cursed to consume the lives of others to extend his own regardless of his will. Someone like that didn't deserve any happiness. Fate had dictated the course of his life and could not be denied so the best option was to keep others at a distance to keep them from being caught in the inevitable backlash.

But maybe it didn't have to be that way? Ren was absolutely right in saying that Saber would want Shirou to be happy. Even now, as she forever awaits her next summons on the bloody hill of swords, there is little doubt that she wishes for Shirou to be happy. He could even feel Avalon thrumming inside of him as though in agreement with this idea.

It hurt. It was a painful idea. Every fiber of Shirou's being screamed out that he should not pursue his own happiness. But Ren was right. Ozpin was right. He didn't want to betray Saber's memory but perhaps he always had been. Perhaps he always had been betraying the last wishes of his loved ones. Perhaps he hadn't truly been living after all.

"I… think I will," Shirou said after a long moment. "Even… even if it doesn't work out, it couldn't hurt, right?"

Ren and Jaune both smiled at their friend, having watched a wide range of painful emotions dance across his face in the silence. Jaune had already seen beneath Shirou's mask but the experience was still a highly discomforting one. He could tell that his friend was far more troubled than he let on but he hoped that this would help him start healing or at least make amends with the past he seemed to blame himself for.

As for Ren, he always had a feeling that something was lurking underneath Shirou's geniality much the same way that he and Nora hid the pain they carried but he hadn't been prepared for the storm of raw emotion that he had just witnessed. Ren had always felt a connection with Shirou right from when they first met and this feeling had only been strengthened by the time they spent cooking together but now he knew that they were truly kindred spirits. He was capable of relating to Shirou on a level that the others, even Nora, simply couldn't and hopefully never would. He also knew that there wasn't a whole lot he could do to help Shirou that he wasn't already doing. By opening up and revealing his own past, he could only hope that Shirou might do the same in return. He could, to a degree, understand how Shirou felt and he knew that that simple fact could be a world of difference.

After Jaune thanked Shirou and Ren for the advice and Shirou did the same in return and the group parted ways, Shirou only had one thought as he collapsed on his bed and sent a message to Ruby via his Scroll:

Wherever she was now, Shirou hoped that Saber would forgive him.

OoOoOoO

Blake Belladonna sighed quietly as she stared up at Yang's bed. A quick look at the clock revealed it to be nearly one in the morning and yet sleep simply wouldn't come to her. Through the darkness, she could hear a gentle snoring coming from Yang along with mumbling and the sound of cloth rustling from Ruby as the young leader shifted in her sleep. Weiss was the only sleeper who was perfectly still and silent but a glance over at the heiress revealed a slight frown creasing her face, as was often the case. The loudest sound in the room by far was the ceaseless ticking of the wall clock. The sound was almost painfully loud in the relative quiet of the night to Blake's cat ears and every single tick of the second hand was like a mallet scattering her thoughts even further.

This was far from the first time that Blake had difficulty going to sleep even in the past few days. Such nights were a common occurrence to her lately but this time was different. Before, her thoughts had been consumed by the White Fang, Roman, and Adam. They dwelled on her past actions, her past mistakes, her past sins. They chased each other around as she tried desperately to come up with solutions to her problems, with ways to atone.

This time, however, Blake's thoughts were consumed by something that wasn't entirely new but had never received much focus from her. This time, her thoughts dwelled on her conversation with Yang earlier that day and what, exactly, her partner meant to her. Yang had left it up to her if they went to the dance as just friends or as something more and Blake was uncertain as to what it was she wanted.

Yang was a good person, of that there was no doubt. She was every bit as energetic as her younger half-sister but in a different way. She liked to live life in the fast lane, always tackling problems head-on and never second-guessing herself. She was troubled by her missing mother but she never let any of her worries slow her down or stop her from enjoying life. She was basically the exact opposite of Blake and she would be lying if she said she didn't find that at least somewhat attractive.

Then there was how supportive Yang was. She was supportive of everyone and had been since day one but she had been especially supportive of Blake ever since that incident at the docks. She did her best to encourage or help her whenever she struggled with something and always tried to cheer her up whenever she seemed down or troubled (which had been nearly all the time as of late).

Then there was all of the casual and friendly touches. Yang was literally a very warm person— it apparently had something to do with her Semblance— but she had a warmth that went beyond that. Even though Blake usually shrugged her off, she took an unusual amount of comfort from them. That hug that they shared after their talk had frankly been one of the most comfortable things that she had experienced in a long time. She would be lying if she said that there wasn't a small part of her that wanted to crawl into bed with the blonde right now and just let her hold her.

However, if there was one thing that Blake was certain of it was that she couldn't trust her feelings. She had felt something similar once before long ago with Adam. While it was different with Yang, the general idea was the same. She had felt inspired by Adam and attracted to his straightforward bravery and approach to life. He knew how things worked, he knew he didn't like them, and he knew what must be done to change things and make them better. She had been swept up in his overwhelming confidence in his cause and course.

In a lot of ways, Adam and Yang were similar and that thought scared Blake.

Blake knew that Yang was not Adam. What Adam was, and still is, doing was hurting innocent people and any improvement this resulted in for the Faunus was not worth the pain and misery it was causing others. Meanwhile, all Yang wanted to do was help people, enjoy herself, and find her mother— if not necessarily in that order. While Blake ended up disagreeing with Adam's choices, she knew that she couldn't disagree with most of Yang's without also disagreeing with her own recent choices. Even if not all of them were nice people, being a Hunter was a noble thing.

Despite that logic, Blake was still afraid. After how much Adam had hurt her both emotionally and physically, she couldn't help but be wary of any new relationships. It had been one of the reasons she had kept her distance from the others for nearly all of the first semester. She knew that the others would never do anything to intentionally hurt her unless it was to stop her from hurting herself in a far worse manner but it was still difficult for her to open up to them any more than she already had. She knew that her fear was irrational but it was still there.

Could Blake trust her feelings again? Could she let herself get close to others not out of necessity as she had with Shirou but merely out of desire? Could she actually let someone into her heart again? She certainly wanted to but she was just so afraid that she had no idea if she could.

The clock struck one am and Blake sighed again. Her thoughts were getting her nowhere, as per usual, and she really needed to sleep. So, she did what she had done every other night recently when she couldn't sleep:

She closed her eyes, focused on Yang's soft snoring, and let the sound lull her into slumber.

* * *

A/N: This was an interesting chapter to write for a number of reasons. While quite a bit of it is more-or-less the same as how it went down in canon, the devil is in the details and this chapter really showcases all of the little changes that Shirou's presence has caused. I also decided to have the girls actually narrow down where the White Fang could be because just having them be in a general area and having them go to the exact right place within that area is way too convenient for my tastes. Also, do keep in mind that Shirou is passing any information they find along to Ozpin.

Then, of course, there's the bit with Jaune, Ren, and Shirou. Having Jaune also go to Shirou here felt natural given their relationship so far in the story. It also gave me a reason as to why Shirou would decide to go to the dance with Ruby since, otherwise, he wouldn't have. For those of you who think Shirou telling them anything is out-of-character, any Shirou (sans Archer) is willing to make any sacrifice if it means saving someone else. Shirou was thus willing to reveal this much in order to save Ren from embarrassment.

Also, fun fact: The closing portion with Blake was written while the story was being posted. I realized that I really needed more stuff with Blake so I decided to make an omake. However, it was far too important for such and thus ended up in the story proper.

Speaking of which, have an omake!

 **Omake 7**  
Acceptance  
After V2C9

Emiya Shirou sighed deeply, his breath coming out in a white cloud as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. Even with a projected Aura, it was an incredibly cold night and the fact that the sun had already set didn't help at all. Still, there was something that simply couldn't be put off any longer and required some degree of privacy so that meant it had to happen on the dorm roof. It was honestly rather amusing how many important events seemed to happen here.

After a few minutes of waiting, Shirou turned around when he heard the door open to see Ruby Rose making her way over to him. She was wearing her school uniform, surprisingly enough, but the somewhat sloppy way she was wearing it indicated that she had just thrown it on.

"Hey, Shirou. What's up?" Ruby asked as she got near.

Shirou swallowed thickly before speaking. Every part of him was screaming at him to not do this but he had already made his decision. "It's about your invitation," he began. Ruby looked confused for a moment before her face lit up in recognition. "First of all, I'm sorry about taking so long to get back to you. I had to talk with a few people first."

"No, it's okay!" Ruby quickly said. "I know it wasn't something you had really thought about or planned on going to so it's only natural that you'd need some time to think it over!"

Shirou shook his head but carried on. "Anyway, I'd like to give you my answer now," he said before bowing. "I'd be glad to go to the dance with you."

Ruby was silent for a long moment, Shirou's growing more anxious as the seconds ticked by, before she forced him to stand straight before throwing her arms around him. "Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! Thank you thank you thank you!" she practically shouted as she tried to choke the life out of him.

Shirou was grateful for both his past experience with Velvet hugging him and the talk with Jaune and Ren he just had. The last thing he needed right now was to have another breakdown as he awkwardly returned the hug.

Ruby broke the hug enough to look at Shirou. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement and there was a slight blush on her face. "So, I'll see you at the port at 7, right?" she asked.

Shirou nodded as he forced himself to smile, "I'll be there."

Ruby hugged him fiercely again before letting go. "Thanks again, Shirou! Goodnight!" she said as she hurried off to tell Yang.

"Any time, Ruby!" Shirou replied.

Once Ruby was gone, Shirou's entire body sagged as his expression fell. It was great that Ruby was so happy but why did he still feel so miserable?


	23. V2C10: A Night to Remember

A/N: There's an important misconception that I need to clear up which is why I'm talking here instead of just at the end: This Shirou is not from the Fate route. While it's true that Shirou fell in love with Saber and that usually means that Saber lets go of her wish, that development didn't happen until almost the very end of the Fate route. Before such a thing could happen for this Saber, she was corrupted by the Greater Grail and became Saber Alter. As such, she's not in Avalon but still on that bloody hill after the Battle of Camlann. This fact was mentioned in the previous chapter. More after this chapter.

Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

Emiya Shirou swallowed nervously as he adjusted the tie of his rented tuxedo. It was the long-anticipated night of the Beacon dance and Shirou was currently standing about a block away from the Royal Veronica Hall trying not to freak out. Ruby had accepted his apology for taking so long to get back to her and had been thrilled when he agreed to go out with her. While Shirou was glad to see her so happy, he still couldn't get completely past the feeling of betrayal even after his conversation with Ren and Jaune. He was determined to not ruin her night, though, even if it didn't work out in the end.

This determination didn't stop him from delaying the inevitable as long as possible, though. Instead of traveling on the airship with Ruby, Shirou made an excuse about having difficulties with his tuxedo and told her that he'd meet her there. It was also why he was loitering near the Cross Continental Transit tower. Still, he couldn't put it off forever and he had already made Ruby wait long enough so he took a deep breath, pushed down his anxieties, and made his way to what was sure to be his doom.

OoOoOoO

Yang Xiao Long stood behind a podium near the entrance of the Royal Veronica Hall as she went over the guest list. Being the physically strongest and most personable member of Team RWBY, she was chosen to pull double duty as both the greeter and the bouncer should uninvited guests arrive (even though General Ironwood had a few guards posted throughout the area and most of Beacon's staff was present). While a bit bummed that she wouldn't be able to start partying right away, Yang accepted the job without complaint.

The Royal Veronica Hall was a pretty nice place, Yang had to admit as she idly looked around the room. It had been built by some famous queen or another a long time ago to serve as an embassy to other nations. Over the years, the embassies ended up changing to other buildings in better locations so the Royal Veronica Hall was renovated and repurposed into a building where all kinds of events were hosted. It wouldn't usually host something as basic as Beacon's school dance but the owners had been magnanimous when they made their offer, stating that Vale's future protectors from the Grimm should be allowed to enjoy some luxury on behalf of the people.

"Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these?" Ruby Rose asked as she awkwardly approached her older sister. In place of her usual attire, Ruby was wearing a short, red, sleeveless dress with a thick black sash around the waist and black trim along the bottom. The bodice of the dress was split vertically to the sash and laced with black lacing. The yoke of the dress was translucent mesh with an opaque collar and hem as well as opaque lines connecting the collar to her shoulders. To go along with it were black stockings and pumps, the latter of which she was currently complaining about.

"You get used to them," Yang reassured her as she suppressed a laugh. As for herself, Yang was dressed fairly simply in a short, yellow, halter neck dress with a pale gray hem and white pumps.

"So… Is he here yet?" Ruby asked as she leaned against the podium for support.

"Not yet but don't worry. He'll show up. If he doesn't, I'll kick his ass," Yang said.

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that!" Ruby said quickly. "If he doesn't, I'll just—" Whatever Ruby was about to say was cut off as they heard the door opening. Ruby spun around to face it, her face lighting up, only to have her smile dim slightly when Blake Belladonna walked in.

For the dance, Blake chose to wear a short, purple, asymmetrical halter neck dress that was split up the right side and had a black collar. Translucent black mesh covered her shoulders, decolletage, and back and decorative black swirls covered the left side of the dress and continued up the left strap. The outfit was completed with black pumps and a teal bow hiding her cat ears in place of her usual black one.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in!" Yang said, earning a half glare from Blake. "There are still a couple more guests who haven't shown up yet but I'll be right with you when they do."

"Take your time," Blake said with a slight smile. "I'm a little thirsty anyway."

"Refreshments are in the back on the left," Yang said, thumbing over her shoulder toward them. Blake gave an appreciative nod before walking off. "Try not to have too much fun without me!" she called out to her partner only to receive a slightly dismissive wave.

"Told ya she'd come," Yang said to Ruby with a slight chuckle and a smug grin.

"You and Blake are here together?" Ruby asked as she peered over her sister's shoulder to their teammate before the latter got swallowed up by the crowd.

"Yep!"

"It's great that you got her to go with you as her friend."

"I'm not too sure about that," Yang admitted, her smile becoming a tad uncertain.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked with a tilt of her head.

"Well, she never got back to me with her answer if we were just going as friends or as a couple."

"I didn't know you had feelings for Blake!"

"I kinda do," Yang said as she rubbed at her nose. "Blake's one of the most interesting people I've ever met and I really want to support her more than just about anything. The only problem is that I still don't know too much about her and she's always trying to keep her distance. Even _if_ she's not as bad as she used to be."

"So, you want to go on a date with her in order to learn more about her? People do that?"

"Of course. They do it all the time. Blind dates wouldn't be a thing if they didn't. Besides, you don't know that much about Shirou and yet you're going on a date with him, aren't you?"

"I suppose," Ruby said as she started fiddling with her fingers, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

There was a brief lull in the conversation that was soon broken by the sound of the door opening. "Sorry I'm late," a familiar voice said. "I've never worn a tuxedo before."

"Shirou!" Ruby cried out as she turned around. She quickly made her way to him only to trip over her pumps. She would have fallen if Shirou hadn't grabbed her arm. "Sorry about that," she said with a nervous chuckle.

"It's alright. I have to say, you certainly look beautiful tonight," Shirou said with a nervous smile.

Ruby's giggle was somewhere between bashful and nervous. "Thanks. You look, um, rather handsome yourself."

"Awwwww! My baby sister's all grown up and off on her first date!" Yang gushed causing Ruby to cry out her sister's name in dismay even as her face turned red. Even Shirou was slightly flushed.

"Well then," Shirou said after clearing his throat before holding out his arm. "Shall we?"

Ruby smiled at him and took the offered arm. Yang smiled joyously as she watched the pair walk by but spoke in a soft whisper that Shirou could just barely hear as they passed. "Hurt her and I break you."

"Noted," Shirou said with a nervous gulp before making his way to the dance floor.

Yang watched the couple go, practically beaming with pride, before turning her attention back to the guest list. With Shirou's arrival, there were only three people unaccounted for left and, as luck would have it, the door soon swung open to herald their arrival.

"You guys are just in time!" Yang greeted them as she marked them off of the guest list.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," the male said as Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, and Cinder Fall arrived at the dance.

OoOoOoO

Jaune laughed alongside Pyrrha as the latter finished up recounting an incident from her childhood. "I can't believe your dad bought that!" Jaune said as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"I know! I thought for sure I was going to be in trouble!" Pyrrha remarked as she caught her breath. While Jaune was dressed in a fairly simple tuxedo (as were most of the boys), Pyrrha was wearing a turtleneck sleeveless red dress that left her back exposed.

The couple had only been at the dance for not even ten minutes but it was already shaping up to be the single greatest night of Pyrrha's life. They had taken to the dance floor pretty much first thing and Pyrrha quickly discovered that Jaune was an amazing dancer (apparently, one learns a lot when one has seven sisters). He was actually far better at it than Pyrrha was and dancing had been a favorite hobby of hers ever since she was a little girl (one of the few her parents let her have since the skills there could be applied to combat). She was actually learning a few things from him which had been a refreshing change of pace. After a couple songs, they decided to take a break where they almost immediately started swapping silly stories from their childhoods.

"Thanks for taking me to the dance, Jaune. I'm having a wonderful time," Pyrrha said once they had calmed down.

"Really? That's great! I'm honestly just thankful that you even agreed to go with me. No doubt lots of other guys asked you."

"Actually, you were the only one who asked," Pyrrha admitted as she looked away somewhat sadly.

"Wait, what? But you're Pyrrha Nikos! Guys should have been tripping over themselves to ask you out!"

"I'm glad that you think I'm so desirable but that's the problem. I've been _blessed_ with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm _constantly_ surrounded by love and praise but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place." Pyrrha sighed deeply and took a drink from the cup of punch in her hand before continuing.

"Everyone _assumes_ I'm too good for them. That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form _any_ sort of meaningful relationship with people." Pyrrha smiled beautifully at Jaune. "That's what I love about _you_. When we met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime."

Jaune stood there for a moment, speechless as he absorbed what he had just been told. "Well, if I'm being honest," Jaune began after he found his voice, "I'm one of those people. You're such an amazing person, Pyrrha, that, even now, I feel like I'll never be good enough for you. But a friend of mine once gave me a great piece of advice. He said that even if you _are_ better than me at basically everything, I can still be there for you and support you. That I should reach out to you and that you'd reach back without resenting me for holding you back. So, I did. And I'm really glad that I listened to him because getting closer to you has been the single greatest thing I've ever done in my life."

Pyrrha's smile was threatened to split her face as she used a handkerchief to wipe away the tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes. "I'm glad that you did, too." She then giggled before adding, "It seems that you and I owe Shirou for a lot."

Jaune chuckled as he rubbed at the back of his head, "Yeah, I guess it's pretty obvious who that friend was."

"Still," Pyrrha said before putting her drink down and wrapping her arms around Jaune in a fierce hug, "thank you for reaching out to me. No matter what happens going forward, I'll always be thankful that you're a part of my life."

Jaune said nothing as he returned the hug and took the moment to bury his nose in her hair, the rest of the world falling away around them. After an unknown amount of time, the world came back as the music changed to something upbeat. Jaune pulled away slightly, keeping his hands on Pyrrha's elbows while hers rested on his chest. "So, you ready for another dance?" he asked with a smile on his lips.

Pyrrha beamed at him, "Always."

As the two took to the dance floor, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren watched them pass by. "This. Is. Happening! Let's go, Ren!" Nora said.

"Wait, what's happening?" Ren's question was ignored as Nora pulled him onto the dance floor, his cup of punch clattering to the ground.

What followed was a four-man synchronized dance that would go down in the school's history as one of the greatest moments at the yearly dance ever.

OoOoOoO

Ruby laughed nervously as she and Shirou stood awkwardly off to one side, drinks in hand. After Shirou had arrived, there had been some attempts at dancing but not only could neither of them dance, Ruby was still too awkward in her heels to do so even if she could. The attempt had resulted in both of them ending up with bruised feet (which, thankfully, their Auras took care of) and more than a fair share of awkwardness. With the primary form of entertainment out of the question, that just left standing around talking which ended up going nowhere; Ruby was far too nervous and Shirou was busy wracking his brain for topics of conversation that wouldn't inevitably lead to talk about their pasts.

Thankfully, before the awkwardness could reach critical mass, Team JNPR put on their performance which gave them something to talk about. "That was very impressive," Shirou said after their performance was over.

"Yeah. I can't imagine being able to dance like that. I wonder how much time it took them to learn that?" Ruby replied, her voice slightly strained as she tried to force conversation.

"I don't know. It must have taken quite a while, though."

"Yeah," Ruby said with another nervous giggle. Silence fell between them once more as Ruby started to rock on the balls of her feet and Shirou started to look around. The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife and Ruby felt like she was about to suffocate if she stayed there any longer. "Hey, I'm, uh, gonna go get some air. You, uh, wanna come with?" she asked more out of politeness than any real desire.

As dense as he could be sometimes, Shirou picked up on this. "No, I think I'll go refill my drink. I'll… see you in a little bit?" he asked with a slight shrug, having no idea how to handle the situation.

"Um, yeah. I'll see you in a bit," Ruby replied before making her way outside. Once the door was closed behind her, Ruby leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She barely had time to start gathering her thoughts before she heard the door open again.

"Is everything alright?" Weiss Schnee asked as she joined her partner. Not having a date, Weiss decided to dress simply in a short, white, sleeveless dress with cutouts on both sides of her waist. The yoke of the dress was a translucent mesh and she was also wearing white pumps.

"No, not really," Ruby admitted with a sigh as she slumped against the wall.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that… This night _really_ hasn't been going well. Dancing was a disaster and I don't know what to say to him and he doesn't say anything and when we _did_ talk, it was so forced!" Ruby took a few steps away from the wall and started pacing, wildly gesticulating as she went on. "I really wanted this night to be special and have as much fun as Jaune and Pyrrha seem to be having but I just don't know what to do! We're just standing around, drinking punch, and not talking to each other! If things get any more awkward between us, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna die from embarrassment!"

Weiss hummed for a moment as she pondered her partner's plight. "Why not tell him about something from your past? Something funny that happened with your family," she suggested.

"I thought about that but Shirou's such a private person! If I told him something like that about me, he'd feel compelled to tell me something similar and I don't want to pressure him into doing anything!"

"Then what about the future? Talk about what you plan on doing after graduating."

"Honestly, I don't really have any plans," Ruby admitted with a bashful smile as she stopped her pacing. Weiss simply rolled her eyes even as she smiled fondly at the younger girl. "I just plan on being a Huntress and fighting Grimm and saving people."

"There's nothing wrong with that but it's something you should probably put some thought into. Figure out where you want to live, if there's anything specific you want to accomplish, things like that."

"Yeah, I probably should. But that doesn't help me right now! Uhg! I should have thought about this before now!"

"Shirou is every bit to blame for this," Weiss quickly said, having noticed the downward spiral her friend's thoughts were starting to take. "If he wasn't going to put forth effort into making sure you enjoyed yourself tonight, he shouldn't have accepted your invitation."

"But we were such good friends! I've never had problems talking to him or being around him before!"

"You also never tried to date him before. Sometimes things like this just don't work out, Ruby. You two are good friends and that's it. There's nothing wrong with that. You're allowed to just be friends. There's no need to try and make it something that it's not."

Ruby sighed as her shoulders slumped, "I guess. I just wish things didn't end up this way, you know?"

Weiss smiled in sympathy as she stepped closer to her partner and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I know. No one wants things they were looking forward to to go badly."

Ruby returned Weiss' smile before pulling the heiress into a tender hug. "Thanks, Weiss. You really are a great friend."

Weiss returned the hug as her smile became that much fuller. "Any time, Ruby." The pair stayed that way for a long moment before Weiss almost reluctantly pulled away. "I'm going to head inside before I freeze to death out here. You want to come with? I've got a table tucked away in a corner."

"No thanks," Ruby said with a shake of her head. "I think I'm going to stay out here for a bit longer."

"Alright. Try not to stay out here too long."

"I won't. Thanks again, Weiss."

"Any time, Ruby."

Ruby leaned back against the wall and sighed, her breath coming out in a puff of vapor in the cold winter air. After that talk, she felt slightly empty but in a good way. She really admired her partner's ability to make her feel better. Her only regret was that there wasn't really anything she could do in return. If Ruby was doing a good job as a leader, it was only because she had Weiss backing her up.

As Ruby pondered this, her thoughts were interrupted by movement on the other side of the street. What was an oddly garbed person doing by sneaking into the CCT tower?

OoOoOoO

Blake and Yang swayed slowly in each other's arms as the gentle music played on. They had been pretty silent for most of the night so far, only sharing the most basic of words, but Blake had declined any offer to part ways so Yang counted it as a victory. Still, she couldn't help but be worried. Aside from Team JNPR's epic dance routine, Blake had been almost despondent the entire time.

"Hey, are you okay?" Yang whispered into her partner's cat ear. Blake's bow twitched in response.

"I'm— I'll be fine," Blake replied as she pulled Yang's warm body a bit closer.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? You've been trembling in my arms all night."

"I— I just— I just don't know how to handle this. How to handle us."

"What's there to handle? If you like being with me in whatever way then be with me. It's that simple."

"But it's not!" Blake grimaced as her voice got a bit louder than intended. In response, Yang slowly led Blake as they danced to a more secluded spot.

"It's not that simple," Blake repeated once they had more privacy. "There's so much about me that you don't know."

"Yeah, so? There's a lot about me that you don't know, either. But I don't really care too much about that stuff right now. If you want to tell me stuff, you can tell me whenever you're ready but, right now, I like being with you so I want to keep being with you."

"But if you do, you'll get hurt," Blake said, pulling back slightly so she could look into Yang's lavender eyes. "I have so much blood on my hands. I've done so many horrible things. How could you ever want to be with a monster like me?"

Yang smiled gently as she cupped Blake's cheek in her hand and used her thumb to brush away a stray tear, "I'm gonna be a Huntress, Blake. I'll end up being hurt if I'm with you or not. And I don't care about who you were or what you did in the past. All that matters to me is who you are and what you're doing right now. You're not a monster, Blake. You're my best friend and I love you."

Blake's tears started to flow freely as her composure threatened to completely crumble, "Yang, I—"

Yang gently shushed her as she placed a finger on her partner's lips. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay." With that, Yang slowly leaned in until her lips pressed against her partner's, taking a moment to savor that sweet and slightly salty taste, before pulling back and pulling her into an embrace.

Surprised by the kiss as she was, Blake had instinctively returned it for a brief moment before Yang pulled away before clinging to her partner fiercely. She was happy beyond words that someone actually loved her but why did her tears still hurt?

OoOoOoO

"Do you, um, want to dance with me?" some random guy asked. Cinder Fall simply smiled enigmatically without moving from her spot at the table while Mercury Black answered for her.

"She's with us, scumbag. Get lost," he said with a dismissive wave. The man was taken aback before growling at Mercury. Since Cinder didn't seem to be interested in talking, he decided to ask the third person at the table.

"Well, what about you?"

Emerald Sustrai beamed at him before saying "I'd love to" in a chipper voice.

As the two walked off and started to dance, Mercury said, "Damn, Em. That's cold."

Emerald looked on as the man made an utter fool of himself by dancing with absolutely no one. "He had it coming, the annoying prick. Uhg, I can't wait for this party to be over so we can get out of here."

"What are you talking about?" Mercury asked as he leaned back in his chair until the front legs came off the ground. "I think this party's pretty great and I haven't even spiked the punch yet. Whoever did the decorating's got a real sense of style."

"Uhg. Of _course_ you'd think that," Emerald said as she rested her head on one hand and watched the party. "Well, would you look at that. Ironwood is leaving the party," she observed a bit more loudly than usual.

"Guess the General's had enough fun for one night. Should we intervene?" Mercury asked Cinder. After a moment of silence, Cinder shook her head. "Well, alright then. Let's just try and wrap this up before midnight, alright?"

OoOoOoO

Shirou sighed as he leaned against the railing of the balcony. It was pretty cold out tonight but the cool air was helpful in counteracting his boiling brain. The night had been an absolute disaster and he honestly wouldn't blame Ruby if she decided she never wanted to speak to him again. It should have been a fun, eventful night that she would never forget but instead they had spent nearly half an hour doing absolutely nothing. Shirou couldn't recall ever feeling so awkward in all his life and he couldn't imagine what Ruby must have been feeling.

Shirou's thoughts were interrupted by the door behind him opening. There were a few footsteps and a satisfied groan as the person stretched before taking the spot next to Shirou and speaking.

"Pretty great night, huh?" Jaune said as he stared out over the reservoir, the broken moon reflected in its smooth surface.

"You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself. I'm surprised you actually left Pyrrha's side," Shirou remarked as he eyed his friend.

"She had to use the restroom so I decided to take the chance to get some air," Jaune revealed. "But yeah, this night has been amazing. I've never had so much fun in all my life. What about you? How are things going with Ruby?" Shirou's response was to sigh deeply and hang his head. "That bad, huh?" Jaune asked with a sympathetic smile.

"It's just so… _awkward_. Neither of us can dance and I can't think of anything appropriate to talk about that won't lead to… things I'd rather not talk about."

"What do you mean 'appropriate'? Just talk about whatever, dude. One thing I very quickly learned tonight is that it might be a special night but treating it as special when talking is the _last_ thing you want to do."

"Even so, this night is supposed to be special. It's supposed to be fun and unforgettable. All I've successfully done is make it boring and something she'd probably rather forget ever happened."

"Hey, that happens. You win some, you lose some. At least, that's what my dad always said. So what if things didn't turn out amazing? You guys gave it a shot and it didn't work out. Now you just go back to being friends and move on with your lives."

"Even if things didn't work out, I still should have been able to show her a good time and let her have fun rather than ruining the night for her."

At this, Jaune gave his friend a _very_ concerned look as he turned to have him. "Hey, Shirou, buddy, I know you've got this hero complex and all but you know that you're _not_ responsible for our happiness, right?"

"What do you mean?" Shirou asked as he faced Jaune in return, looking slightly annoyed by the hero complex remark.

"I mean that you're only responsible for your own happiness. It's great that you want to help us out so much but you've gotta look after yourself first. If you can't even make yourself happy then you can't make anyone else happy. Hell, that's probably why this night's gone so poorly for you. You were so focused on trying to make Ruby happy that things got awkward."

Shirou half glared at the insinuation, "Do you mean to tell me that you haven't been focused on making Pyrrha happy?"

"I mean, kinda?" Jaune admitted with a shrug. "I was super focused on that at first but then Pyrrha got me to calm down and be myself. So, I've pretty much just been talking about whatever comes to mind and saying what I really feel and mean. Pyrrha said that she l-loves me for that so that's what I've been doing and it's worked out great so far."

Shirou looked pensive as he turned back around to stare out into the reservoir. He was quiet for a long moment but, before he could speak, he was interrupted by the door opening once more.

"There you are. Oh! I'm sorry! Am I interrupting something?" Pyrrha said as she stepped outside.

"No, not really," Jaune said as he pushed off of the railing and gave Shirou a few pats on the back before walking off. "Good luck, buddy," he said in parting before shutting the door behind him.

Shirou sighed before staring up at the shattered moon. Things had gone pretty horribly for whatever reason but at least Ruby's night couldn't get any worse.

OoOoOoO

Ruby grunted in pain as she was thrown through one of the windows on top of Vale's CCT tower. She quickly hooked Crescent Rose around the metal divider between the windows, using her Aura to blunt the cutting edge, before swinging around and back into the room.

What was supposed to have been a curious little detour quickly turned dangerous when Ruby found the unconscious forms of two guards outside of the Tower. A quick signal to her rocket locker to get her weapon later and she found herself going in and then up the Tower as she noticed the other elevator already in use.

After she got to the top, Ruby kicked off her pumps, the cold floor preferable to potentially losing her balance in a fight, and cautiously made her way inside. "Hello? Is anyone there? Hello?" she called as she looked around the room and waited for her eyes to adjust to the near-total darkness.

Then she saw a figure emerge from the darkness. It was a woman, that much was certain, but her black, sleeveless bodysuit and facemask made it hard to distinguish any notable features other than her long, black hair. Silhouetted as she was, the figure looked vaguely familiar to Ruby but she didn't have time to try and place the memory.

"Excuse me? You know, it's not a masquerade party so why don't you take off that—!" Ruby was interrupted by the woman hurling shards of ice from a container of ice Dust at her. Ruby quickly sidestepped it but the left her open for the woman to bodycheck her and then hurl her out the window.

Once back inside, Ruby charged the woman and slashed at her with Crescent Rose. The woman was fast enough to jump backwards out of the way but not fast enough to dodge the bullet that was fired as the barrel passed her by. Using the combined momentum of the swing and the gunshot, Ruby turned the attack into a spin as she recoil-jumped toward the woman. Ruby let out a scream as she brought Crescent Rose down on her but the woman simply held out her hands and blocked the attack with two hastily summoned swords made from fire Dust, her elbow-length gloves and pants glowing red as she did so.

Ruby was completely unperturbed by this development, already being intimately familiar with fighting someone who could do that, so she almost immediately fired off another round and used the recoil to assist her in pulling Crescent Rose back, breaking the woman's guard. Ruby then flipped her weapon around, readying herself to slam the spear-like end into her, when the woman growled and glared at her. Ruby froze as she was hit at once with the full intensity of the woman's killing intent. While she was able to quickly shake it off thanks to her training with Shirou, the split-second pause was all it took for the woman to recover enough to leap backwards out of the attack's range. She even backflipped as soon as she touched the ground to avoid the followup swing while also not being in line of the gun.

While still in the air, the woman's arms and legs glowed again as her twin swords took the shape of a black bow and three arrows. Ruby immediately backpedaled and was forced to avert her eyes as the arrows exploded on contact, the floor caving in slightly at the point of impact.

With some distance now between them, Ruby opened fire on her and suppressed a frustrated growl as the woman casually blocked her shots with her free hand, even though that action made her fully remember where she saw the woman before. After a couple of shots, Ruby quickly changed target and fired at a hanging light positioned directly above the woman. The woman looked up and managed to dodge to the side in time but was just a hair too slow as Ruby charged her and used Crescent Rose to tear her bow away from her before balancing on its head and sending a strong kick into her chest.

As the woman stumbled back, Ruby twirled Crescent Rose into a ready position and made to charge again the sound of the elevator opening made her pause as the room was suddenly with light.

"Everyone freeze!" General Ironwood said as he entered the room with his massive revolver drawn. While glad he was here, Ruby didn't so much as spare him a passing glance as she kept her gaze solely on the enemy. "You're under arrest for assault and trespassing!" Ironwood said as he moved closer (Ruby _really_ hoped he was talking only to the other woman).

The woman growled as she looked between Ruby and Ironwood. After a second, her clothing flared up as she expended all of the fire Dust stored within to create a massive wall of fire between herself and the other two. Ruby was forced to turn away from the intense heat and light but Ironwood calmly kept walking forward, incredibly loud shots ringing out as he fired off his revolver at the fleeing target.

When the fire died down, Ruby turned her attention back to the scene only to see Ironwood looking out the broken window and down the side of the building, a scowl on his face. After a second, he pulled out his Scroll and called in the woman's details and last known direction as Ruby transformed Crescent Rose and let it hang at her side. After he was finished, Ironwood faced Ruby and said the words that made her gulp in apprehension:

"You've got a lot of explaining to do."

OoOoOoO

Cinder Fall sat quietly at her table, sipping at a cup of spiked punch, as Emerald and Mercury chattered away in front of her.

"Geez, she's almost late. Do you think she's okay?" Mercury asked as he ceased his rocking on the chair, letting the front legs fall back on the ground with a loud "thud."

"Of _course_ she's okay. Nothing these buffoons can throw at her could even phase her," Emerald reassured him despite looking slightly nervous herself. Before their conversation could continue, Cinder looked off into the distance before nodding and leaving the table, the other two looking on in interest. After a few minutes, Cinder returned.

"So, how'd it go?" Mercury asked once his boss sat down.

Cinder hummed before answering, "A little more _exciting_ than expected."

"Should we be worried?"

"Hardly. They'll be scratching their heads long after we finish what we came here for."

"So, then, what now?"

"Enjoy the rest of the night. After all, it _is_ a party."

* * *

A/N: This chapter is a really important one for a lot of reasons. It's a major event that was heavily setup in canon and had a significant impact on the course of the characters' lives. Not only is that still true here, it also perfectly demonstrates the result of the numerous changes that happened because of Shirou's presence. Every single difference, with the exception of the change in venue, is a result of Shirou's presence.

I had a number of people complain to me after the last chapter about how Shirou fell in love with Ruby. What I don't get is what made those people think that when the exact opposite is stated in the story. Shirou is _not_ in love with Ruby. The only person he's in love with is Saber. He simply agreed to go to the dance with her because they might end up having a good time. That's it.

To make things perfectly clear, the Cinder that was as the dance and silent was actually Neo. If the heroes had even a modicum of intelligence in canon, Cinder would have been ousted immediately as she was someone who was supposed to be there but didn't show up until _after_ the break-in. That would place her right at the top of the list of suspects but everyone in RWBY is some degree of stupid, especially at this point (and even in Volume 7, _Clover_ ), so yeah.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Please leave a comment if you did or didn't and I'll see you next week as we start gearing up for the finale!


	24. V2C11: Solo Operations

A/N: Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

"They're here, Ozpin! They are _here_!" General James Ironwood said as he slammed his hands down onto Ozpin's desk. For his part, Ozpin casually took a drink of his cocoa.

"We're very much aware of that! Thank you, James," Glynda Goodwitch said in response as she glared at the man.

"Fantastic! You're aware!" James said sarcastically as he threw his arms up. "Now, are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what's right in front of us‽"

At that moment, a sound played to signify that someone was at the door to Ozpin's office. "Come in," Ozpin said as he put his mug down. At his words, the door slid open and Emiya Shirou walked into the room, both him and Ozpin ignoring the glare that Ironwood sent Ozpin's way.

"I came as soon as I could," Shirou said with a bow after standing before Ozpin's desk.

"Excellent. I take it that you are already aware of the events of last night?" Ozpin asked as he intertwined his fingers on his desk.

"Yes, sir. Ruby told me everything shortly after returning to the dance," Shirou reported.

"Perfect. There is further information that you should know. The infiltrator from last night is currently somewhere in Beacon."

"What?" Shirou asked, his eyes widening.

Ironwood decided to continue at this point even though he stilled look aggravated by Shirou's presence, "Last night, we picked up strange transmissions coming from the Royal Veronica Hall and the CCT tower. That's why I left early and headed straight there after the guards stationed there failed to report in. The only people in the hall that night were students staying at this school and a few of my men, all of whom have already been accounted for."

"Was there anyone who wasn't at the dance that should have been or who arrived after the incident?" Shirou asked.

"If it were that easy, the perpetrator would be in custody by now," Ironwood said derisively causing Glynda to give him a sharp look.

"What did the infiltrator do, anyway? Ruby didn't know."

"And neither do we," Glynda said with a grimace. "It's possible that Miss Rose arrived before the infiltrator could accomplish their goals but we're having people go over both the room and the tower's systems with a fine-toothed comb anyway."

"Which brings me to why I asked you to come here," Ozpin rejoined the conversation. "Given your particular brand of magecraft, is there anything you have that could help track the infiltrator down?"

Shirou grimaced himself, "Not with the information I have. If I had a clear picture or a detailed enough description of them then I could track them down so long as they were within a kilometer or two."

"A shame. In that case, there is another matter I wish you to attend to. Or rather, one I wish you to attend to in a more official capacity."

"You want me to hunt down Roman and his sect of the White Fang."

"Precisely," Ozpin confirmed with a nod. "With the information you and Team RWBY discovered, I managed to narrow down their location to Mountain Glenn. I want you to—"

"Ozpin, I draw the line at this," Ironwood interrupted. "If we know where their hideout is, we should be sending an army to rout them, not some boy you picked up in the middle of nowhere!"

"I assure you, James, Shirou is a very capable young man," Ozpin said. His voice was calm but Shirou was feeling a slight amount of aggravation coming from him.

"Capable? I've seen his combat record, Ozpin! He nearly fell to his death during the initiation test and was subdued by Roman in a prototype Paladin! His only feat of note was fending off Roman and Neo but even that was with aid!" Shirou ground his teeth but remained otherwise stoic. Even he admitted that his track record since coming to this school was less than stellar.

"While all of that is true, you are not seeing the entire picture. Ever since coming to this school, Shirou has been keeping the full extent of his abilities under wraps. The only people outside of this room to know that Shirou's swords aren't the result of a Semblance are Qrow and Pyrrha Nikos. He didn't even reveal his ability to produce swords until he absolutely had to."

"That may very well be true but it doesn't change his record."

"Indeed it doesn't. However, this is different. Unlike here at school, Shirou will be on his own for his mission and in a deserted area. He will have no cause to withhold the full extent of his thaumaturgy. With that restriction removed, even if the White Fang were to be hiding an entire army at Mountain Glenn, I am confident that Shirou can complete this mission."

"And what gives you this confidence in him?" Ironwood asked as he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"When I expressed the desire to bring Shirou into our group and have him work for me, I naturally received pushback from both Glynda and Qrow. To alleviate their concerns, I suggested that they test him which Qrow happily agreed to."

"You're telling me that Shirou fought Qrow?"

"Indeed he did. And while Shirou ultimately lost that fight, it was a very near thing. Had Qrow's Semblance not come into play at a key moment, I dare say that he would have won."

"That's only because Qrow wasn't taking me seriously at the start," Shirou stated, not wanting Ironwood to have the wrong impression. "If I fought him again, I doubt I'd be able to win or even wear him down as much."

"Even so," Ozpin countered, "This is a mission that I know Qrow could handle and if he could do it then I'm certain that you could as well. In fact, given some of the weapons you described to me, I dare say that you would have an even easier time than he would."

Shirou grunted in response but said nothing further. Ozpin was probably right, after all.

"Alright, fine. Send the boy," Ironwood said even as he shook his head in disapproval.

"Emiya Shirou, your mission is to head to Mountain Glenn, locate the White Fang's hideout, and exterminate them with extreme prejudice," Ozpin said, his expression completely serious.

"Yes, sir. When do I leave?" Shirou asked.

"As soon as possible. I'll have a Bullhead prepared for you at the docks. Professor Oobleck and Team RWBY should arrive there for a Grimm extermination mission tomorrow shortly before noon. Should you need assistance, seek them out but I'd prefer it if you handled the situation on your own. Until your mission is complete, you shall be excused from all classwork. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Dismissed."

Shirou bowed to his benefactor before taking his leave. Once he was gone, Ironwood turned back to Ozpin. "If we know where they are, I still say we should send the army and eliminate them with an overwhelming display of force. Show those terrorists that their actions will not be tolerated."

Glynda growled in frustration at this, "Why must your answer to everything involve a triumphant display of military bravado‽ You treat every situation like it's a contest of measuring di—!"

"Glynda!" Ozpin reprimanded her.

"Well, he does," Glynda said with a huff as she folded her arms.

"James, I understand your frustration and, were this simply just a criminal organization or an act of common terrorists, I would gladly take you up on your offer. However, I believe this goes far beyond Beacon. Beyond Vale, even. While this turn of events wasn't entirely expected, they fall well within my predictions," Ozpin said, his tone and air deathly serious.

Ironwood stiffened even as his frustration instantly left him, "Are you saying that Salem is behind this?"

"I'm saying that she _might_ be," Ozpin corrected. "She has been silent for some time which, to me, indicates that she is planning a major move. For the time being, Shirou will be more than sufficient to handle any distractions as we prepare for what I believe to be her actual goal."

"And what is it that we're preparing for?"

Ozpin looked Ironwood dead in the eyes as he answered calmly, "The destruction of Beacon and the theft of our Relic."

OoOoOoO

Emiya Shirou dove out from the Bullhead, his limbs kept close to his body to speed up his descent as the Bullhead tore away. While his Aura offered sufficient protection for his eyes from the wind, the hood of his Ranger attire (being the outfit that Coco bought him and was later named by Ruby, his first outfit being retroactively called his Knight attire by Yang) still violently whipped around as he angled himself toward the slanted remains of a skyscraper.

Right before he hit the sloped wall, Shirou flipped in the air and angled himself almost parallel to it, using his Aura to blunt the impact as he hit it and began to slide down it, his right hand digging into the wall to further decrease his speed. About halfway down, Shirou pushed off the build and pulled his arms and legs in, turning himself into a ball and protecting his face before he crashed through a window on the adjacent building, rolling to a stop once he hit the ground.

Having come to a stop, Shirou dusted himself off as he approached a hole that used to be a window. Mountain Glenn was once a marvelous city on the border of Vale's territory and its splendor was said to have rivaled even the capital's. However, in the year 1753 of the Current Era, approximately 33 years ago, the Grimm, attracted by the city's pride, laid siege to it. Despite the city's numerous defenses, the onslaught of Grimm couldn't be stopped and all that remained now was a desolate ruin reminiscent of an apocalypse novel. Between the Grimm and the elements, all of the luster had been stripped away from the metal of the buildings and more than a few were left barely standing.

Using his current vantage point, Shirou started making a mental map of the area. The area was still crawling with Grimm due to the air being heavy with the curses of the dead. With so many people dying in droves while filled with fear, it was frankly inevitable that such a place would become cursed. The atmosphere reminded Shirou of the dead park back in Fuyuki, the site of the fire that happened ten years prior to the Fifth Holy Grail War that had claimed Shirou's first life along with the lives of countless others, and it left him grimacing as the related memories started to resurge.

Pushing the memories aside, Shirou solidified his mental map of the place. The accuracy of the map needed to be high since Mountain Glenn existed at the very edge of the Cross Continental Transit System. As such, areas where long-range communication was possible were sparse and maps had to either be physical or downloaded onto a Scroll's internal memory. While Shirou possessed one of the latter, it hadn't been updated since the city's destruction all those years ago and thus its accuracy was low. Even from his limited vantage point, Shirou could see numerous paths that were no longer easily traversable and new paths that hadn't existed on the map Shirou had poured over during the flight.

With the area solidified in his mind, Shirou got to work. Since it was impossible to say exactly where the White Fang were hiding (even if Shirou had his suspicions), his first order of business was to establish a safehouse. His choice of landing site hadn't been a random one, though. The building he was currently in was close enough to the center of the city which made it quick to get to regardless of where he was. Not only that but, by setting up his base camp on one of the upper floors, it offered him a greater level of protection from the roaming Grimm. The truly large ones wouldn't be able to enter at all and the ones that could would be forced to travel single file which would make dispatching them simplicity itself. Given all that, Shirou chose a small interior room of medium size with two entrances and got to work on fortifying it.

Several minutes later, Shirou dismissed the traced chalk and dusted his hands off as he activated the runic array. While fairly rudimentary compared to something a proper magus would be able to create, the bounded field he set up would be more than sufficient for his purposes. The effects were simple and two-fold: It would silently signal him should anything or anyone come within ten meters of the room and it would mask the emotions of everything inside it (this being a spell that he had puzzled out with Ozpin's help). With this, he would be invisible to the Grimm while resting and would be warned should any wander close to it.

With the area secured, Shirou went ahead and set up his bedroll and set aside his extra supplies before beginning his hunt.

OoOoOoO

Shirou let three arrows fly in rapid succession and idly watches as the three Creeps he slew faded away. It was now nearly six in the afternoon and, by Shirou's estimation, he had covered about a third of the city personally and observed nearly half. The speed in which he had been able to conduct his search was thanks largely to his supreme mastery of Structural Grasp. By placing his hand on the side of a building and sending prana through it, he was able to get a basic map of any building of a certain size or about two to three stories of larger buildings. Using that, it was easy enough to detect the presence of people in most circumstances. By combining that with a logical search pattern (you'd need a large amount of room to hide a large number of people and supplies), the area he was able to cover was substantial.

While his search bore no fruit, only returning a large number of Grimm nests that he largely ignored, Shirou was satisfied with these results. There were only a few more places above ground that the White Fang could be hiding. If they weren't there, that meant that they could only be hiding in the underground city that was created as Mountain Glenn's final bastion of defense. It had failed, obviously, but it would make a fantastic hiding place for a criminal organization, especially one that wished to attack the City of Vale thanks to the collapsed subway line that connected the two. The only reason Shirou didn't start with that place was partly that it would be a bit too obvious and partly because, if he was wrong, getting cornered down there would make things far more troublesome than they otherwise would be.

Given the time and his current distance from his safehouse, Shirou decided to go ahead and call it a day. Not only did he need to make a report to Ozpin, there was a high probability that he wouldn't be getting much rest the following day so it would be prudent to rest up as much as possible while he still could.

As he was making his way back, Shirou couldn't help but reflect on his current situation. In nearly twelve hours, he was going to be raiding a criminal hideout and wouldn't be leaving until they had been utterly routed. This inevitably meant that he would be taking numerous lives. Nearly a year ago, that prospect would have revolted him and he no doubt would have refused the mission on principle. Now, however, the thought didn't phase him at all. He had learned the hard way that clinging to the ideals left to him by Kiritsugu, that desire to save everyone, would only result in death beyond measure and leave you with nothing left. That realization is what made him choose to throw away his ideals and instead focus on protecting only what mattered most to him. Of course, in the end, even that selfish desire proved unobtainable. As it was, the only thing he had left was Saber's ideal and to follow the example she made as King Arthur. Regardless of the blood it left on his hands and the sins that piled up on his soul, he would do whatever it took to save as many people as possible.

Despite knowing that his end would undoubtedly be the same as hers, Emiya Shirou silently marched onward.

OoOoOoO

Late that night, sometime before the first light of dawn, Emiya Shirou awoke as an alarm went off in his head. He was immediately on his feet, the familiar forms of Kanshou and Bakuya appearing in his hands as he reinforced his eyes to allow him to see in the darkness. His similarly reinforced hearing picked up several footfalls while his ability to smell power confirmed that they were Soulkin (Grimm all possessed a truly wretched scent like that of a decaying corpse). They were surrounding the room he was in so hiding was simply not an option. Given that, he made to launch a surprise attack of his own when an explosion rang out and the floor suddenly gave way from underneath him.

Even surprised as he was, Shirou's instincts were sharp enough to roll with the impact as he hit the ground even as bits of rubble struck him and bounced off his Aura. Before he could fully recover, a burst of gunfire caught him in the back so he blindly hurled Kanshou in that direction as he dove down a hallway and right into more White Fang goons. Shirou was forced on the defensive for a moment as one of the goons lashed out at him with an ax but he quickly recovered and grabbed the man's wrist before pivoting around him and striking out with Bakuya at the two who were waiting in the wings.

Not having the time to deal with them, Shirou quickly traced another Kanshou and struck the first man behind him before jumping backward and slashing the other two as he passed. He then hurled both swords and watched as all three were hit, their Auras breaking under the assault. Another set of the Married Blades were produced and all three quickly fell lifeless just as the first group that shot at him rounded the corner.

Not wanting to lose the initiative as the new group was surprised to see their allies already dead, Shirou charged forward and attacked the one closest to him. The first hit shattered the woman's Aura, Shirou's blind throw having evidently hit home, while the second cleanly removed her head from her neck. One of her compatriots brought up their rifle, shaking as it was, and fired off their entire clip but Shirou had easily predicted the attack and moved out of the line of fire. Just as they realized that they had missed, Shirou lashed out with Bakuya and cleaved through their rifle before sending a thrusting kick into the chest of the other, who was still paralyzed in either shock or fear. It was but a second more for about five seconds in total before both of them were dead.

Shirou took a second to gather himself as he contemplated how he was discovered when he was certain that no one was following him. That was when he realized his mistake of sending Ozpin a report. Just as the infiltrators had been discovered because of their transmissions, he must have been discovered because of his.

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps both from the floor above and the one he was on, Shirou quickly weighed his options. He could dispatch with his attackers without issue, his prana and Aura reserves were both fine, but that wouldn't accomplish much. If he could instead get them to take him to their hideout, that would be much more efficient even if the process was risky. Acting quickly, Shirou dropped his Aura and used his weapons to cut himself in a few places before dismissing his weapons and dropping to his hands and knees, pretending to pant in exhaustion even as he reinforced his body with prana. While not as effective as Aura, it would provide sufficient protection against gunfire should they try to execute him on sight.

"There he is!" Shirou heard someone shout after a few seconds. He put on a good of struggling to his feet before dropping to one knee in seeming exhaustion.

"Get down on the ground!" one of the five men said as he came up and hit Shirou in the back of the head with his rifle. Shirou's vision went white for a second as he found himself face-first on the floor but the reinforcement of his body meant no real harm was done.

"We've gotcha now, ya bastard. The boss man's got a _looooot_ of questions for ya," another said as he bent down to sneer in Shirou's face. Another went to restrain him with something so he made a show of trying to resist only to stop when one of them put their rifle against his head. Even with his reinforced body, gunfire from that range would be dangerous.

"Well, we can't have you tryna run out on us and havin' all of those negative emotions a yours atractin' Grimm wouldn't be good either," the one who bent down to taunt said as he straightened up, "so it's nighty-night for you, ya arsehole!" As the White Fang member kicked him in the face, Shirou let his body go slack and feigned unconsciousness. That one was evidently pretty weak as Shirou had barely felt that. He seriously doubted that the blow would have knocked him out even if he hadn't reinforced himself.

Regardless, Shirou's ruse seemed to be working as the White Fang goons quickly went about searching his body, taking his Scroll, before one of them hoisted him over their shoulders. The entire process was more than a little annoying and demeaning but Shirou knew that payoff would be worth it.

OoOoOoO

Sometime later, Shirou was smacked "awake" by one of his "captors." As expected, he had been transported to the underground city and he was pretty certain he knew roughly where the entrance was since he had kept track of their position to the best of his abilities using his mental map.

Once "awakened", Shirou made a show of hyperventilating while looking around wildly before settling on glaring at the person before him. From what he could see, he was currently hanging by his bound wrists in what used to be an auditorium of some sort with a second-floor balcony lining the walls. There were seven members of the White Fang, all in this customary white, sleeveless tailcoats with a black hood, black pants, and Grimm masks. Outside the windows on the opposite side of the room, he could see a few more walking by and he could hear even more activity beyond that. He couldn't tell the exact number but he estimated there to be at least twenty people in the immediate area.

"It's going to be a while before Roman gets here," the White Fang goon that had slapped him said, "but I'll cut you a deal. When he discovered you were here, he went on and on about all of the horrible ways he was going to torture you to death but, if you tell me what we need to know now, I promise that your death will be a bit less painful. Alright?"

Shirou hung his head until his bangs were shadowing his eyes as he muttered something under his breath. "What was that? You have to speak up if you want me to hear you," the White Fang member said in a taunting voice.

Shirou looked up at him at stared hard as his ochre eyes burned with the fire of resolve and he voiced the words that would both bring about a change within himself and sound the end for the White Fang here.

"Trace, on. Projection, start."

The goon barely had time to look confused before a nameless sword shot out of the darkness behind Shirou like a bullet and pierced his skull as another cleaved through the chains keeping him suspended. The other goons guarding him must have been better trained than the ones sent to attack him as their hand their guns trained on him after only an instant of hesitation but that instant was all Shirou needed. As the White Fang opened fire, a red spear appeared in Shirou's hand and his body started to move automatically to dodge or block the incoming fire with preternatural speed as Lancer's Protection from Arrows skill took effect.

When there was a lull in the gunfire, Shirou shot forward like an arrow and skewered the heart of the White Fang member nearest him, the B Rank Noble Phantasm backed by Lancer's B Rank Strength easily able to penetrate their Aura in one go. As he withdrew the cursed spear, he immediately started twirling it to block another burst of gunfire as he projected Kanshou into his free hand and hurled it at one of them once there was an opening.

Two of the other goons abandoned their rifles to instead charge at Shirou with electrified batons. Shirou brushed aside the first attack with the tip of Gáe Bolg, catching the man's hand rather than the weapon itself, before quickly thrusting to remove his hand. The man screamed out in pain, the blood gushing from the stump striking the other's mask and stopping his attack, as Shirou stepped forward with a spinning strike that cleanly removed his head while projecting Bakuya into his free hand. The second man that came into the melee quickly threw off his mask so he could see again just in time to be met with a simultaneous strike from the front and back as Shirou lashed out with Bakuya at the same time as Kanshou returned to him.

With the fourth goon dispatched, Shirou dismissed Kanshou before it could hit him and immediately leapt back as a hand grenade went off at his feet. Under the cover of the smoke and dust, Shirou hurled Gáe Bolg at the fifth before retracing Kanshou and charging the sixth. The sixth man hastily brought up his gun after reloading it and opened fire but Shirou charged on, heedless as the bullets bounches harmlessly off of the crossed Kanshou and Bakuya. The man could only scream in fear as Shirou lashed out with a series of blindingly fast strikes that left him falling like a puppet with its strings cut.

Almost immediately, Shirou pivoted to his left and threw Kanshou at the enemy that had been pinned by Gáe Bolg before charging after. Weakened as she was by the spear, the woman had no defenses as the whirling Kanshou tore through her neck before fading away as Shirou reclaimed the spear.

By this point, the seventh goon had long made his egress so Shirou quickly made his way to the room's western wall before leaping up onto the balcony, dismissing Bakuya as he did so. Once up there, he kept low and made his way to one of the windows as the door burst open, several dozen members of the White Fang pouring in with weapons raised. While his enemies fanned out and started searching for him, Shirou quietly made his way out the window and leapt up to the roof before quickly leaping to the level above.

The underground city portion of Mountain Glenn was, frankly put, a marvel of engineering. The city was separated out into zones with each zone being an upside-down cone; the lowest level being a densely packed circle of buildings surrounding a square and then going upward and outward in levels from there. As it was, the auditorium Shirou had been held in was located on the bottom level of one of these zones so he quickly made his way to the top of one of the buildings on the second level, using Lancer's A-Rank Agility to make the trip in no time as he drew his nameless sword-bow and shifted it into its bow form.

Once in position, Shirou set Gáe Bolg down before holding out his hand and reaching for a special sword. It was a beautiful, drill-like sword but, in a flash of red light, Shirou quickly elongated it with alteration magic until it took a form more resembling an arrow. Knocking the sword-arrow, Shirou drew it back as he zeroed in on the building he had just escaped, the White Fang inside now starting to leave to search for him.

 _"I am the bone of my sword."_

Those words of power echoed out as a mass of prana was drawn into Shirou, his hood and hair rustling in the updraft it caused as he poured enough prana into the arrow to break it and honed his vision to a razor's edge on his target.

 ** _"Caladbolg!"_**

The arrow was loosed and it immediately took off at supersonic speeds, a dull thud ringing out and destroying the weaker sections of the surrounding area as the very air itself was pierced. Almost immediately after it was fired, the Fake Spiral Sword pierced through the auditorium as if it wasn't even there before it and the surrounding area were engulfed in a massive explosion that leveled not only it but also the buildings immediately next to it and the road behind it.

As the dust settled, Shirou let out a sigh before stowing his weapon and picking Gáe Bolg back up. All of those projections on top of the true name release had consumed a not-insignificant portion of his prana. Thankfully, it seemed that his last attack had wiped out the White Fang in the immediate vicinity. However, he hadn't seen Roman Torchwick in that crowd and the underground city was nearly as large as the aboveground one so he knew his work was far from over.

They knew that he was here and that explosion would absolutely alert just about everyone that he was fighting but that didn't matter. His objective was clear and the path to it was before him so all he had to do was walk it. This was one mission that Emiya Shirou would absolutely not fail.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the late update! Life has been kinda rough lately and what today was and what the meant totally slipped my mind!

Anyway, here's Shirou just doing his thing and a reminder that all of this (sans that one Blake segment) was written out before V2C1 was posted. As a matter of fact, I've had a large portion of the story planned out before the very first chapter went up. As things stand, I plan for there to be 12 volumes with each volume being roughly the length of this one (although, who knows, some may be longer). We've got a long way to go and a lot of crazy things to get through before the end. To that end, it's worth noting that, for the most part, anything revealed after Volume 6 is likely to be ignored. I'll work it in if it doesn't really contradict what I have planned (in fact, some things actually _helped_ what I had planned) but don't see something in the show and wonder what I'll do with it. As an example, what V7 revealed about Penny made Shirou's reaction to her (after I changed it when a reviewer pointed something out) completely wrong. Soul transference is just straight up the Third Sorcery. For that matter, that machine from V3 is also the Third Sorcery.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed Shirou kicking ass now that he doesn't really have to worry about anything. Also, a reminder that K&B aren't that strong as far as Noble Phantasms go (they don't even have a true name release) and that Archer is a garbage Servant (dude lost every fight he was in except one). This chapter marks the first time in the story that Emiya Shirou has truly gone all out (even against Pyrrha, he was holding back as he didn't use any Noble Phantasms beyond K&B).

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and see you all next week!


	25. V2C12: The First Mission

A/N: Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

Ruby Rose sighed as she collapsed back on her bed, the action causing it to bump into the wall with a dull thud. It was the morning after the dance and she had just gotten back from breakfast. It had been a perfectly lovely meal cooked up by Lie Ren but the fact that a certain redhead had been completely absent left Ruby feeling a large number of emotions that she simply didn't have a name for.

"You okay there, sis?" Yang Xiao Long asked as she steadied her sister's hanging bed to stop it from swaying. She had opted to follow her little sister back to their dorm room while the rest of their team went with Team JNPR to the library to finish up their homework assignments.

"Not really," Ruby said as she laid the back of her arm against her forehead.

Yang walked over to her side of the room and hopped up on Blake's bed. "Date didn't go well, huh?"

"It was a disaster!" Ruby cried out, throwing her arms up toward the ceiling in exasperation. "Neither of us could dance so we just stood around for forever drinking way too many cups of punch! Honestly, a part of me's glad that mystery lady decided to infiltrate the tower when she did!"

"Hoo boy. That's pretty bad. You didn't talk about anything?"

"I didn't know what to talk about!" Ruby said as she sat up, draping her legs over the side of her bed. "Shirou's a really private person so I didn't want to talk about things like Dad or Patch so he wouldn't feel like he'd needed to share something similar and it just didn't feel right to talk about Crescent Rose or cooking or something on a date."

"Okay, this one's partly on me. I really should have sat you down and given you some advice. While it's good that you were aware enough to not talk about things that might make him uncomfortable, you totally could have talked about your hobbies."

"But we can talk about our hobbies any time!"

"You can talk about anything any time. Dates are special but they're not that special. They're basically just 'Hey, let's set aside some time to do something together and talk about literally whatever.' I once spent an entire date talking about the finer points of pun making."

Ruby stared blankly at her sister for a moment before saying, "Wow, that must have been a painful conversation to listen to."

"Yeah, when we heard the people at the table next to us groan, we made a bet to see who would be the one to finally make them leave.

"Who won?"

"He did, that magnificent bastard. Since he won, he got to be on top."

"On top of what?"

"Anyway, don't feel too bad about it. He's just as much to blame as you are and it's not that big of a deal either way."

"But he didn't even show up for breakfast! He never misses meals! He probably doesn't want to see my face ever again!" Ruby cried out as she covered her face with her hands and collapsed sideways back onto her bed.

"Stop being so overly dramatic, Rubes. You probably know Shirou better than I do and I'm pretty sure he's not that kind of guy. He probably has something else going on that made him miss breakfast."

Ruby uncovered her face and propped her head up on her elbow as she spoke, "What could he possibly have going on? Other than his meditation and exercise routine, he doesn't really do much that isn't classwork or whatever we're doing."

"That's… true," Yang said with a thoughtful expression, "but he did mention something about projects he had going on, right? He's not with us or JNPR all the time so he has to have other things to do."

"Maybe…" Ruby said with a doubtful expression.

"I know you feel bad right now but don't worry about it," Yang said as she hopped off her partner's bed. "You'll get over it and everything will be perfectly normal the next time you see him. Now, I know it's not fun but let's head down to the library so the others don't fuss at us. We can get our homework out of the way and then have some fun. Alright?" Yang asked as she held out her hand to help her sister down.

Ruby stared at the offered hand for a moment before smiling and taking it. "Alright. You're right. Everything will be perfectly normal next time I see him."

OoOoOoO

"I haven't seen Shirou all day!" Ruby said, more than a little worried. It was now early in the evening and she, along with the rest of her team and Team JNPR, was in their floor's kitchen for dinner.

"He wasn't even at his apartment," Blake Belladonna said as she folded her hands together on the table.

"He's no longer listed on our Aura tracking app, either," Weiss Schnee commented from her partner's side.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him, either. What about you two?" Lie Ren asked Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos as he started laying out the food.

"Can't say that we have," Jaune said. "Has anyone tried calling him?"

"We did but they went to voicemail. He's not answering texts, either," Yang replied.

"We should tell a teacher," Pyrrha said.

"Professor Goodwitch's office should be closest. If we hurry, she might still be in," Blake supplied.

"You all go ahead," Ren said as he started moving the plates around. "There's no point in us all going so I'll finish up dinner and keep the food warm."

"Thanks, Ren," Ruby said as she stood up, the others following suit. "C'mon, let's go!"

OoOoOoO

A few minutes later, Ruby found herself standing in Professor Goodwitch's office. It wasn't a large room and was fairly bare; the furnishings favoring practicality over design and the only decorations being her certificate as a Huntress from Beacon, her teaching diploma from one of the universities, and a picture on her desk that Ruby couldn't see. Given both the small size of the room and how awkward it would be if they all went in, Ruby was chosen to speak with the Professor.

"How may I help you, Miss Rose?" Professor Goodwitch asked as she looked up from the papers she was grading.

"Shirou's been missing since this morning. We can't find him anywhere, he's not answering his scroll, and he's not listed on our Aura tracking app anymore either," Ruby stated.

Professor Goodwitch sat up in her chair and adjusted her glasses as she put her pen aside. "I see. First of all, I want to thank you for actually contacting the faculty this time." Ruby flinched slightly and gave the teacher an embarrassed smile. "As for Mister Emiya, due to his status as a teamless student, he was deemed the most appropriate for a special mission. Due to the time-sensitive nature of this mission, it was decided that he would set out for it today rather than tomorrow when the other students receive theirs. I can assure you that his whereabouts are known."

Ruby relaxed slightly at this, relieved that her friend wasn't actually missing, but now she was curious. "What sort of mission did you send him on?"

"One that need not concern you. Just a clandestine extermination mission. He should return around the same time as everyone else does. Is that all, Miss Rose?" Professor Goodwitch asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yes. Thank you very much, Professor," Ruby said with a polite nod.

"You're welcome. Have a good evening, Miss Rose."

After exiting the office, Ruby related to her friends what she had been told.

"A special mission, huh? Jeez, it must be tough having to handle things like that by yourself. I can't even imagine what it must be like," Jaune said as they started making their way back to the dorms.

"It makes sense, though," Blake said as she appeared lost in thought. "She said that it was clandestine, right?" Ruby nodded in response to Blake's question even though Weiss had to tell her what that word meant. "Then Shirou would definitely be fit for the job. He displayed some skill with stealth back on the docks and his ranged weapon of choice makes nearly no sound."

"But he's just killing a bunch of Grimm, right? Why'd they need someone stealthy just for that?" Yang asked.

"It's possible that a small nest appeared near a settlement," Pyrrha answered. "If one did, taking it out before anyone notices would be for the best. If the people knew how close the Grimm were, that might make them fearful which would attract more."

Ruby nodded in agreement, "He also probably turned off his scroll so the noise wouldn't give him away."

"Either that or he delisted himself from our groups in the Aura reading app so as not to worry us should he take damage," Weiss added.

"Well, anyway, there's nothing we can do about it so let's eat and rest up! Our first mission's tomorrow and we've gotta give it 100%!" Yang said.

"You say that but isn't this technically your guys' second mission?" Nora asked wryly.

"For Blake, this could be considered her third," Pyrrha added.

"Well, yeah, technically," Yang said, "but this will be our first official mission! We won't get in any trouble for this!"

"Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a lot of trouble?" Jaune remarked with a resigned expression even as the others laughed.

That was problematic because he was being completely serious.

OoOoOoO

Team RWBY were currently standing in Beacon's auditorium in full combat gear. All around them, students from every year huddled around in team-sized clumps, anxiously discussing the events to come. The air was positively buzzing with excitement and anticipation as the day had finally come for one of the most anticipated yearly events: Mission Day.

Mission Day was the unofficial name for the Monday following the Beacon Dance, which was always held on the third Saturday of January, and was the day in which every Hunter team was sent out on a mission. For first years, this was especially exciting as this not only usually their first mission, it would also be a chance for them to see a full-fledged Hunter working up close. It would be their first real taste of what their life would be like after graduating.

To make things even more exciting, this particular was also the same year as the Vytal Festival. As such, not only did the students of Beacon fill the auditorium, there were also students from the other major Hunter academies all over the world. From the riged, uniformed forms of students from Atlas Academy to the lackadaisical members of Vacuo's Shade; just about every type of individual could be found in this room and all of them were united by a single goal: to become a Hunter.

The din finally started to settle as Professor Glynda Goodwitch took to the stage and spoke into the microphone. "Quiet! Quiet, please. Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin."

It spoke volumes that the entire room settled down as Professor Ozpin took the stage, his solemn aura and piercing gaze stilling even the rowdiest of students.

"Today we stand together, united," Professor Ozpin began, his voice controlled and dignified. "Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. The four Kingdoms of Remnant. On this day nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end." Ruby involuntarily gulped as she recalled the details of the Great War that they had recently been studying in earnest.

"It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression," Professor Ozpin continued. "A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom but about the very idea of individualism itself." Blake noticed that more than a few people turned their attention to the nigh identical students of Atlas Academy but those students didn't react if they noticed.

"We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you are well aware, that was something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression but neither were the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day." Weiss shifted uncomfortably as she recalled a conversation she once overheard shortly before her brother was born: her father had been angry that her name and the name of her older sister fit this convention.

"We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it.

"To you older students, who have been with your academy for more than a year, this will be nothing new to you. Just another chance to prove your skill, to test your mettle, to see if you truly have what it takes to survive in this profession. To you, I say that you should never take any mission, no matter how mundane, lightly. The life of a Hunter is harsh, violent, and often unpredictable. Never forget that any mission could be your last." More than a few students, especially the younger ones, appeared slightly uncomfortable by the headmaster's words but Ozpin carried on, heedless.

"And to you first-year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the Kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best. That is all."

The crowd was silent for a second more as Professor Ozpin left before quiet murmurs broke out. Even for Professor Ozpin, who was known for giving rather serious speeches, this had been particularly poignant. As such, the mood was a bit subdued as the various teams went to the numerous kiosks that were in the area to begin selecting their mission.

"This is perfect!" Ruby said with an enthusiasm that really didn't fit the mood. "All we have to do is shadow a Huntsman working in the southeast!"

"Yeah!" Yang agreed with a pump of her fist. "We'll follow them around by day and give them the slip by night!"

"Let's just hope that someone's actually working near one of our areas of interest," Blake said, grounding the sisters.

"Regardless, let's check 'search and destroy' missions," Weiss said. "Those are the most likely to be near where we want to go."

With matters settled, Team RWBY waited in line at one of the kiosks for their turn to sign up. Once there, Ruby scrolled through the list of available missions until she found just the right one. "Here we go! Quadrant 5 needs Grimm cleared out!" Ruby said triumphantly.

"Well, it's in the southeast!" Blake added, sounding more invigorated than she had in weeks.

"Sounds perfect!" Yang agreed.

Ruby quickly selected the mission and entered her team's name in only to be met with a screen that confused the entire group. "What? 'Team already on mission'?" Ruby said, her face full of confusion.

"That's because you all are a special case," a familiar voice said from behind the kiosk. Professor Ozpin soon appeared, a datapad in one hand and his trademark cane in the other. "You four have shown exemplary performance over the past few months. As such, it was decided that you will be given something a bit tougher."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, slightly on guard.

"What I mean is that you four will be sent to a place called Mountain Glenn and will be exterminating Grimm there. Normally, such a place would be deemed too dangerous for first years due to the high concentration of Grimm. However, an exception is being made as we believe that you all possess the necessary aptitude to complete it."

Team RWBY looked at each other in disbelief for a moment before Ruby looked back at Professor Ozpin with a smile. "We won't let you down. Thank you, Professor."

"Do not thank me for this. Teamwork and persistence have carried you far. But you must understand, the things that await you beyond the protection of the Kingdom will not care. Stay close to your Huntsman at all times and do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission and he can have you sent back to Beacon if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory. An airship is currently waiting for you at the port. You are to leave at once. Good luck."

OoOoOoO

"That wasn't exactly uplifting," Yang said a few moments later as the group were making their way to the port.

"But it's the truth," Blake commented.

"Honestly, this feels kinda wrong," Ruby said as she absently scratched her cheek and looked to the side.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"Well, it's just that Shirou's always been with us for our big fights ever since the school year started. Even though I'm pretty sure he's not happy about his performance, he was a big help during all of them. This will be our first time doing something major without him."

"I get what you mean," Blake said with a nod, "but this was inevitable. He's not an official member of our team, after all."

"Don't worry about it," Yang said. "Our mission is just to kill a bunch of Grimm and we've done plenty of that before."

"Besides, we'll have a professional Huntsman with us," Weiss added. "We'll be fine even if we run into the White Fang."

It was then that Team RWBY was broken out of their conversation by another student excitedly declaring the return of Team CFVY. The four girls looked around and saw a very exhausted and bedraggled Team CFVY heading in their general direction. Even the normally pristine Coco Adel, the leader of the team, looked a little worse for wear.

Upon seeing them, Velvet Scarlatina perked up slightly and made her way over to them. "Hey girls," the rabbit Faunus said. "Is Shirou around?"

"No, he left already," Blake replied. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Velvet said with a weak smile. "I had the others to look out for me."

"Your mission was supposed to end a week ago! What happened?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing happened, exactly. There were just a lot more of them than anticipated…" Velvet trailed off with a somewhat grim look on her face. Noticing the worried expressions of Team RWBY, she quickly shook her head and smiled at them. "But it's nothing we couldn't handle. And you all shouldn't worry. As first years, you'll have a professional Hunter with you, after all."

"Velvet! Hurry up, dear, we need to make our report!" Coco called out.

"Coming!" Velvet called back. "Oh, before I go, do you mind if I take a picture of you guys? To commemorate your first official mission."

"Of course!" Ruby immediately replied before bunching her team together as Velvet took out her antique-looking camera.

"Say 'cheese'! Perfect! I'll be sure to have a copy ready for you when you get back!"

"Thanks, Velvet!" Yang said with a smile.

"Any time. Stay safe, okay?" With one last wave, Velvet hurried off to rejoin her team.

With Velvet gone, Yang thumbed her nose as she turned to the rest of her team. "Well, the day's not getting any younger! Let's go!"

OoOoOoO

Team RWBY sat silently in an airship as it carried them toward their destination. Due to the specific nature of their mission, the bags that they had prepared had been left behind in favor of the one packed by Doctor Bartholemew Oobleck, the Huntsman they had been assigned to. This reveal had come as a bit of a shock to the girls due to the Doctor's eccentric nature and diminished build but their skepticism had been kept to themselves.

"Listen up, girls," Doctor Oobleck began. "Our dear headmaster likely described this mission to you as being search-and-destroy but it is so much more than that! Our primary objective is not an eradication of Grimm in the area but more of a survey! Due to the relative proximity of Mountain Glenn to the City of Vale, the number of Grimm in that area is invaluable data for us. Now, can any of you tell me what that is?"

"If there are a large number of Grimm there, that might be an indication that the people of Vale are uneasy," Weiss answered.

"Precisely! Very good, Weiss! As such, our mission is two-fold: Obtain a rough estimate of the number of Grimm in the area and eradicate as many of them as possible!"

"So that way, if there's a major accident or disaster that causes people to feel a lot of negative emotions, the number of Grimm able to make it to the city will be less," Blake postured.

"Exactly right! Our mission is one of utmost importance as a preventative measure!"

"I'm honestly surprised that they assigned you to this mission, Doc. No offense but you don't seem like much of a fighter," Yang said, much to the shock of her teammates.

"None taken. I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual but I assure you that I am more than capable in combat. Besides, due to the nature of our mission, my particular set of skills will be necessary," Oobleck said amicably.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Simply put, when it comes to matters of history and archeology, I am perhaps the most talented Huntsman in our academy. I didn't spend all of those years earning a Ph.D. for nothing, after all. On this mission, that knowledge combined with my analytical skills will be needed in order to determine how much of the Grimm population might be the result of the emotional state of the people of Vale."

"How can history help with that?" Weiss asked.

"Emotions are very powerful things, Weiss, and negative emotions can be even more so. In areas where a great tragedy that resulted in a significant loss of life has occurred, it is not unknown for that area to be tainted by the overwhelming concentration of negative emotions. To put it another way, that area effectively becomes cursed. The Grimm, as you all know, feed off of negative emotions and, as such, are naturally attracted to such areas. While the entirety of Mountain Glenn was the site of a great tragedy, certain areas were worse than others."

At this, the entirety of Team RWBY fell into a grim silence as they contemplated this, Blake in particular looking almost pained. The idea of curses seemed almost ludicrous to all but Blake, who had experienced such a thing firsthand, but the doctor's words carried an air of deadly seriousness to them. The mission that they currently found themselves on was far different from anything they had done before and that was without taking the possibility of the White Fang's presence into consideration.

Not for the last time, all four girls wondered if they were truly prepared for what they were getting themselves into.

OoOoOoO

Team RWBY disembarked from the hovering airship, weapons at the ready, with Doctor Oobleck half a step behind, thermos at the ready. It was difficult to tell in its current state of destruction but the place they were currently located had once been Mountain Glenn's main thoroughfare according to the map that the good doctor had shared with them. Indeed, a more detailed examination of their surroundings revealed the remains of ruined signs advertising numerous shops and there was evidence to suggest that one of the nearby buildings had been some sort of mall.

"Ladies!" Doctor Oobleck barked as the airship pulled away. "You still may be students but, as of this moment, your first mission as Huntresses has begun! From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?"

After stating her confirmation along with the others, Blake asked, "What are your orders, Doctor?"

"Ah, yes, straight to the chase; I like it! For the time being, we simply need to locate any large groups of Grimm and destroy them while keeping track of how many we've encountered."

"Sounds pretty simple," Yang commented as she continued to scan the area.

"Most missions tend to be simple in theory. In practice, however—"

"Target sighted!" Yang interrupted as a lone Beowolf rounded a corner further down the road. She and her team got ready to spring into action when Doctor Oobleck spoke up.

"Stop!"

"Huh?" Blake asked in confusion.

"A lone Grimm does us no good. We're after entire packs, not single specimens."

"So… what now?" Ruby asked.

"We wait. We track. This specimen should lead us to the pack."

"How long will we wait?" Blake asked.

"It's uncertain. However, given the size of the city, it shouldn't take longer than a single day. In fact, here comes the rest of the pack now and it appears that they've spotted us."

Doctor Oobleck's words rang true as five more Beowolves followed the first before charging straight toward the group. Team RWBY tensed up once more, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice, as Yang asked, "What's the plan now?"

Doctor Oobleck took a sip from his thermos before simply saying, "Show me what you're capable of."

"Let's go, team!" Ruby shouted as she took off, the others not even half a step behind her.

OoOoOoO

A few hours and numerous battles later, Team RWBY found themselves panting slightly as they came off of yet another battle with the creatures of Grimm. "Did anyone else feel that tremor earlier?" Weiss asked as she sheathed Myrtenaster.

"I didn't feel a tremor but I did feel something weird. It felt like when you stand too close to lightning Dust being used," Ruby said.

"I didn't feel anything like that but I did feel a tremor," Blake said. "I wonder what it could have been."

"The buildings in this area are highly unstable. It's entirely likely that the tremors you experienced were the results of one of them collapsing," Doctor Oobleck stated.

A slightly annoyed Yang approached the group, "Hey, Doc, y'know, I was actually looking forward to seeing a 'pro Huntsman' in action. Like, fighting or at least helping us fight?"

"Ah, but I am in action!" Doctor Oobleck corrected, not bothered by Yang's tone. "I am scouring this city for any signs of irregularity! You all are fully capable of handling the Grimm at this moment and you'll get a lot more out of fighting them yourself than you will by seeing me fight them.

"Not every mission is filled with daring and heroism, girls. Sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination!" Seeing Yang's reluctant expression, Doctor Oobleck added, "Remember, this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that."

"Well, yeah…" Yang said somewhat reluctantly before trying to force more enthusiasm, "O-of course!"

Doctor Oobleck merely hummed in questioning acknowledgment as they continued onward.

OoOoOoO

"Tell me, Yang: Why did you choose this line of work?" Doctor Oobleck asked as Yang slid to a stop after another exchange with the Grimm. A bit further away, the rest of her team was dealing with the stragglers.

"Huh?" Yang looked back at him before answering, "Well, to fight monsters and save—"

"No, that is what you do ," Doctor Oobleck said, cutting her off. "I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a Huntress."

"The honest reason?" Yang said to herself as she considered her answer. "I'm a thrill-seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, then that's even better. It's a win-win, y'know?"

"I see," Doctor Oobleck said before making his way toward the rest of the group.

OoOoOoO

"And you, Miss Schnee? A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn't need the extra work. So... why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?" Doctor Oobleck asked Weiss from where he was sitting writing in his journal on a windowsill while the latter finished impaling a creature of Grimm with her blade. It had been some time since the good doctor had questioned Yang as to her motivations so the way he chose to start the conversation confused the heiress.

"It's exactly as you said: I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honor to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty," Weiss said automatically with practiced ease.

Doctor Oobleck simply nodded with an "Interesting" as he continued to write in his journal as a somewhat self-conscious Weiss rejoined her team.

OoOoOoO

Blake slashed down the remains of a door before immediately falling onto her back and letting loose a hail of bullets at the flock of Nevermore that flew out.

"And what about you, Blake?" Doctor Oobleck asked as he examined the inside of the room and Blake flipped back up to her feet. "You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose."

Despite his odd start, Blake wasn't thrown off by the question, having expected it thanks to her teammates. "There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption... Someone has to stop it," she said resolutely.

"Very well. How?" Doctor Oobleck asked as he gave her a pointed look through his opaque glasses.

Almost immediately, Blake's black bow twitched as her cat ears drooped, the question bringing her up short. "I… Uh…" Before she could formulate a response, the good doctor hummed in acknowledgement before taking off, leaving a troubled Blake in his wake.

OoOoOoO

Hours later, Ruby Rose sat on a ruined wall with her notebook in hand, absently doodling the scene before her as the setting sun bathed the ruined streets in shadows, the jagged edges of the partially collapsed buildings creating weird lines that, to the young leader, seemed to invoke the gaping maw of a hungry beast.

Hearing someone approach, Ruby looked up to see Doctor Oobleck. "Sorry!" she said as she hopped down and put her notebook and pen away in one of her pouches. "Are we ready to keep going?"

"Nope!" Doctor Oobleck said cheerfully. "I believe that will have to do for today. It's going to be dark soon." He removed the large pack from his back and casually threw it Yang who caught it with an "Oomph!" "You three, set up camp in that building. Oh, and please do make sure there are no more of those... creatures. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby."

As the two started walking away, the remaining members of Team RWBY could only share a concerned look before carrying on with their assigned task.

Ruby and Doctor Oobleck remained silent as they walked down the street, Ruby's silver eyes constantly scanning the area for any indication of more Grimm. The young leader had to admit that her first official mission wasn't quite what she was expecting but she couldn't complain. She understood the importance of eradication missions and of the survey. This was the life she had chosen to live, the life that her parents had lived for a while, and she was excited to finally be having a taste of what that life was truly like.

Besides, she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been having a certain amount of fun fighting alongside her entire team. Outside of practice fights, this was only the third time she had gotten that chance and was the first where they were fighting regular Grimm. While she was still somewhat saddened by the fact that Shirou couldn't come with them, she couldn't complain.

As the duo rounded a corner, Ruby gasped at the sight that spread out before her. They had come to the edge of the city and thus had come to the remains of a low wall that blocked off a massive cliff. Some hundred or so feet down below, a copse of dead trees spread out in every direction across the rolling foothills of the region all the way toward the towering, snow-capped mountains that loomed in the distance. What had drawn her attention, however, had not been the view but rather the small group of truly massive Grimm marching through the woods a couple hundred yards away.

These creatures of Grimm were unlike any other that Ruby had seen before. To call them gargantuan would be an understatement. The trees in this area were at least three times the height of Ruby and those elephant-like monstrosities were twice again the size of the trees. Ruby estimated that their massive curved tusks, which were about the size of their heads, were longer than the fully transformed Crescent Rose and that the row of spike-like protrusions that ran down its spine were as long as she was tall.

"What is that? It looks awesome!" Ruby said in awe after a moment.

"That, my dear girl, is a Goliath," Doctor Oobleck answered.

Ruby stared at the lumbering creature for a moment longer before pulling out Crescent Rose in its expanded form, "Let's kill it."

"I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a Grimm of that size," Doctor Oobleck said with a hint of amusement.

"But… what if they attack us?" Ruby asked, legitimately concerned.

"Fret not, Ruby; those Goliaths are not concerned with us. Ruby, not every Grimm is mindless, or rather not every Grimm is still mindless. You see, the Grimm change over time; they evolve as they live longer and feast on more negative emotions. As they evolve, they begin to do something that is most dangerous: they learn . They learn that when they attack our borders, they're likely to die and what we lack in strength, we make up for in will and that killing one human will only bring more."

As Doctor Oobleck spoke, the lead Goliath turned its head to face their general direction and Ruby could have sworn that it was looking directly at her. "Then why are they still so close to the city? What are they doing?" she asked.

Doctor Oobleck remained silent for a moment more as he observed the Grimm move its head back and resume walking. "Waiting." A moment more passed before Doctor Oobleck turned around and started walking away as Ruby put away her weapon but didn't move otherwise.

"Doctor Oobleck?" Ruby called out.

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering…"

Doctor Oobleck stopped walking and turned around to face his student, "Wondering why I've been interrogating your teammates all day?"

Ruby turned around to face him as well, "A-Actually, I was wondering... Why did you want to become a Huntsman?"

Doctor Oobleck paused for a moment before answering, "Look around and tell me what you see."

Ruby did as instructed, "Lots of old buildings, uh, empty streets…"

"I see lives that could have been saved," Doctor Oobleck said before turning around and continuing on his way, Ruby following after. "As a Huntsman, it is my job to protect the people and although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I'm able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it in the hands of every student that passes through my classroom. I look at this wasteland and I see lives that could have been saved but I also see an opportunity; an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy and therefore become stronger." Doctor Oobleck stopped and looked at the awed Ruby with a gentle smile on his face, "I am a Huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be."

OoOoOoO

Blake, Weiss, and Yang all sat huddled around a fire on the second floor of a ruined building, a massive hole in the wall giving a good vantage point on the sprawling streets below.

"I can't believe we didn't find anything ," Yang complained as she held her hands out toward the fire. Going on a mission like this during the winter was the worst.

"We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can't always have luck on our side," Blake said.

"That's not what I meant," Weiss said suddenly, apropos of nothing.

"Huh?" Blake asked with a tilt of her head.

"Earlier, about... upholding the legacy. There's more to it than that," Weiss clarified.

"Yeah... No, me too. I mean... I don't know," Yang said as her eyes scanned her thoughts.

"I don't know, either," Blake agreed. "I know what I want to do but I figured I'd always take things one step at a time."

"Well, it doesn't matter," Yang said as she attempted to wave off her concerns. " We know why we're here. Right?" Despite her feigned enthusiasm, the others said nothing as they all stared morosely into the fire.

Until Doctor Oobleck came bursting into the room, anyway. "Ah, wonderful; a textbook campfire!" he said as he examined their handiwork.

"Fire!" Ruby called out as she zipped over to it, a trail of rose petals left in her wake. "So… warm…" she said as she scooted as close as she safely could to it and held out her hands.

"Very good!" Doctor Oobleck said. "Eat your dinners and hurry to bed. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we'll need you to take turns keeping watch over our temporary abode. Any volunteers for the first watch?"

Ruby casually raised her hand, "Yo." Acknowledging her decision, Doctor Oobleck rushed off as Ruby stood and stretched for a moment before making her way toward the hole in the wall.

"Hey, did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntress? I mean... what did you tell him?" Yang asked her sister as she passed by.

Ruby hummed in thought for a moment before answering, "No, he didn't. Weird. Oh well. Good night, guys!"

As Ruby cheerfully started her watch, the other members of her team shared a worried look before half-heartedly eating their dinner and turning in.

OoOoOoO

Later that night, about an hour into her watch, Ruby stared through the scope of her weapon at a lone Beowolf, her finger resting on the trigger. She almost pulled it, knowing that it'd only take one shot right to its head to take it down, but decided against it, sighing as she put her weapon away.

She really couldn't complain since she had volunteered and it needed to be done but keeping watch was easily the most boring part of this whole experience. All she had to do was make sure there weren't a lot of Grimm heading their way. However, because that task required her to pay attention to her surroundings, that meant that the only thing she could do to pass the time was think about things which is something she didn't tend to do too deeply.

Still, with nothing else to do, Ruby thought about the day so far. Everything had been pretty much fine but one thing that bothered her was that weird electric tingling she felt when the others felt that tremor. She didn't bring it up after then but she felt it a few more times throughout the day, once before another tremor and the rest without. She had no idea what it was but the others didn't bring it up so she chose to ignore it at the time.

Now that she had time to think, however, Ruby realized that she had felt something like it before. She had a similar feeling when Shirou had created that giant rock sword thing to use against Roman and his Paladin. Come to think of it, she felt something similar whenever he created his twin swords as well but that had been a lot weaker. She never commented on it as she had usually been too busy with other things at the time but it was really strange now that she thought about it. She didn't feel anything whenever the others used their Semblances so why was Shirou different?

Unable to come up with an answer on her own, Ruby resolved herself to ask Shirou about it when she saw him again and shifted her focus back to her watch right as she heard Yang speak up from near the campfire.

"Blake, are you awake?" Yang asked as she looked over at her partner.

"Yeah," Blake replied.

"Why do you think he asked us about being a Huntress? Like, what was he trying to say?" she asked.

"Maybe he was just curious," Blake replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"You think?"

"No."

"Weiss, you awake?"

"Of course I'm awake!" Weiss snapped as she leveled a glare at the blonde. "You two are talking. And I think he... When I said I wanted to honor my family's name, I meant it. But, it's not what you think. I'm not stupid. I'm fully aware of what my father has done with the Schnee Dust Company. Since he took control, our business has operated in a... moral gray area."

"That's putting it lightly," Blake said wryly.

Weiss ignored her and carried on, "Which is why I feel the need to make things right. If I had taken a job in Atlas, it wouldn't have changed anything. My father was not the start of our name and I refuse to let him be the end of it."

Blake decided to speak next, "All my life, I fought for what I thought was right. I had a partner named Adam. More of a mentor, actually. He always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place. But of course, his idea of a perfect future turned out to be not perfect for everyone. I joined the Academy because I knew that Huntsmen and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good. But I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy, what will I— How can I undo so many years of hate?"

"I'm sure you'd figure it out," Yang said encouragingly. "You're not one to back down from a challenge, Blake."

"But I am!" Blake nearly shouted as she shot up to look at her partner. "I do it all the time! When you learned I was a Faunus, I didn't know what to do, so I ran! When I realized my oldest partner had become a monster, I ran! Even my Semblance! I was born with the ability to leave behind a shadow of myself; an empty copy that takes the hit while I run away!"

Yang sat up as well, "At least you two have something that drives you. I've just kinda of always gone with the flow, y'know? And that's fine, I mean, that's who I am. But how long can I really do that for? I wanna be a Huntress not really because I want to be a hero but because I want the adventure. I want a life where I won't know what tomorrow will bring. And that'll be a good thing. Being a Huntress just happens to line up with that. I'm not like Ruby, she's always wanted to be a Huntress. It's like she said, ever since she was a kid, she'd dreamt about being the heroes in the books. Helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything else in return. Even when she couldn't fight, she knew that's what she wanted to do. That's why she trained so hard to get where she is today."

Weiss decided to sit up, too, not wanting to feel left out. "Well, she's still just a kid," she pointed out.

"She's only two years younger. We're all kids," Blake countered.

"Well, not anymore," Yang said. "I mean, look where we are! In the middle of a warzone and armed to the teeth!"

"It's the life we chose," Blake pointed out.

"It's a job," Weiss continued. "We all had this romanticized vision of being a Huntress in our heads! But at the end of the day, it's a job to protect the people! And whatever we want will have to come second."

As they all agreed to Weiss' words and made the effort to turn in, Doctor Oobleck, from where he sat leaning against the wall on the floor above by the hole, smiled to himself.

OoOoOoO

Later still, partway through Yang's watch, Ruby's eyes suddenly snapped open as she once again felt that tingle run through her body, stronger than ever before. Suddenly wide awake, she looked around at the sleeping forms of Weiss and Blake before looking at Yang, who was still absently keeping watch. After a moment's thought, she grabbed her weapon and made her way outside, determined to try and find out what that sensation was.

After a few minutes of walking, Ruby suddenly stopped as the rubble she was walking on gave way and she heard something that she absolutely didn't expect.

"What was that?" an unknown male voice said from somewhere nearby. Acting quickly, Ruby readied her weapon and hid by the corner of the nearby building.

"What was what?" another voice asked. Ruby could tell that they were close, likely somewhere beyond the corner she was hiding behind.

"Thought I heard something fall. Probably just part of the building crumbling."

The other man harrumphed before saying, "Let's just finish our patrol and get back to base. This place gives me the creeps."

Using her free hand, Ruby pulled out her Scroll and activated its inward-facing camera before carefully sticking it past the corner. She could see two men wearing White Fang uniforms walking away. Having finally found their target, Ruby carefully and quietly tailed them for a few blocks before watching through her camera as they entered into a metal double-door.

"Oh! This is it! This is it!" Ruby said excitedly once the coast was clear. She quickly switched from her camera app to her phone app but groaned when she saw that she had no signal. "I've got to tell the others!" she said resolutely before starting on her way back.

Not too long after she started back, however, Ruby shivered as she felt another, even stronger tingle run through her body followed immediately by a powerful tremor. The ground soon gave way under her feet and it was only thanks to her heightened reflexes and keen instincts that she managed to grab onto the edge of the sinkhole she now found herself dangling over. She looked down the seemingly bottomless pit below her before gulping and tossing Crescent Rose up to safer ground. Just as she started to pull herself up, however, the ledge she was holding on to gave way and Ruby screamed as she was sent plummeting into the darkness below.

Acting quickly, Ruby flipped herself over and went spread eagle to slow her descent as she scanned her surroundings. Spotting what looked like a building jutting out of the wall, she angled herself toward it and tucked herself into a roll as she hit the roof, grunting as the force of the impact threw her out of it. She shook her head to clear it before slowly pulling herself into a crouch just as a nearby door burst open.

"Freeze!" one member of the White Fang said as another, bespectacled one followed after.

"Where'd she come from?" the bespectacled one asked as the other one came closer. Ruby let herself act dazed as she slowly rose to her feet but, once the guard was close enough, she quickly launched herself towards him and jumped, twisting around in midair so she could wrap her legs around his neck in a headscissors. As he was stunned, she twisted around him and jerked her legs closer, taking the guard off of his feet and sending them both to the ground.

Recovering quickly, Ruby got up and charged at the other guard, redirecting his panicked right jab with her hand while sidestepping it and grabbing his extended arm by the wrist before sending a palm strike into his right shoulder. As he screamed out in pain, Ruby swept his legs out from under him while maintaining her hold on his arm, the result being that his arm was now twisted painfully behind him. With a foot on the man's shoulder, Ruby gave his arm a solid twisting jerk, dislocating the joint completely and causing the man to pass out from the pain.

Letting go of the man's arm, Ruby saw the first guard charging toward her. With a burst of speed, Ruby dropped to her back and let the man charge stomach first into her feet before using his momentum to toss him over the side of the building and screaming into the abyss below.

Now out of danger, Ruby took stock of her situation. Climbing back out wasn't an option as the hole she fell from was good seventy feet above her. Similarly, calling for help was still out as she still had no signal. With no way out and no way to get help, Ruby turned toward the door the guards had come from and swallowed thickly before walking through.

OoOoOoO

Yang stretched as she rose from her spot, grateful that her watch was over. She couldn't even imagine how Ruby had managed it given how hyperactive her little sister was. As it stood, she had actually zoned out for a minute there. Still, nothing bad had happened so it was all good. No one needed to know.

"Hey, Weiss, it's your tur—" Yang's voice caught in her throat when she saw that a very important someone was missing. "Ruby? Hey, where's Ruby?" Yang asked, panic starting to rise up in her.

"What?" Doctor Oobleck asked as he jumped down from where he had been staying. At this commotion, the others started to stir as well.

"Ruby's gone," Yang said evenly. Despite her tone, her face had gone completely pale and her eyes were as wide as saucers. Blake and Weiss were instantly alert and on their feet, Blake rushing over to lay a comforting hand on Yang while Weiss whipped out her Scroll.

"No good," Weiss said with a growl. "It went straight to voicemail."

"I saw her step out a few minutes ago," Doctor Oobleck said. "I had assumed that she had gone to relieve herself and came back while I was preoccupied."

"We need to find her. Now," Yang said resolutely, her eyes flashing red.

"Right you are. Grab your weapons, girls! Your mission has from search-and-destroy and search-and-rescue. Your leader did not pass by the road in front of the building so that drastically narrows down our search area. Let's move!"

A few minutes later, the remainder of Team RWBY along with Doctor Oobleck were standing over a large hole in the road, Crescent Rose laying beside it.

"Ruby's scythe!" Yang cried out as she grabbed it.

"Oh no," Blake said morosely as her bow twitched.

"Do you think she fell?" Weiss asked as she peered down the hole into the darkness within.

"Girls, there's something I must tell you," Doctor Oobleck said, his expression one of deadly seriousness. When he had their attention, he continued, "Our mission had additional parameters that I kept secret from you. Mountain Glenn is not just a Grimm hotspot, it is also the location of a White Fang outpost."

"What‽" Blake cried out in disbelief.

"You mean the White Fang are here ‽ Why didn't you tell us‽" Yang shouted.

Doctor Oobleck ignored the outbursts and carried on, "Our secondary objective was to provide support to the operative in charge of their eradication should he require it. Since there were no signs of his activity on the surface, I can only conclude that the White Fang are hidden in the undercity."

"Who's this operative they sent?" Weiss asked.

"It's someone you know quite well. The operative tasked with the eradication of the White Fang in this area was none other than Emiya Shirou."

"WHAT‽" all three of them exploded.

"How could you send Shirou to handle this by himself‽" Blake asked.

"Yeah, Shirou's good but he's not that good! We could have been helping him!" Yang exclaimed.

"I assure you that Shirou's capabilities far exceed that which he lets on. Even without Professor Ozpin telling me as much, it was obvious from my observations of him. Those tremors we experienced throughout the day are likely signs of his activities.

"My point is, ladies, that it is impossible for me to determine if Shirou has exterminated the White Fang in this specific area or not. It is entirely possible that Ruby is now in enemy territory by herself without her weapon."

"Then we need to get down there right now!" Yang said with fervor.

"Precisely. Ladies," Doctor Oobleck held out his thermos as it elongated into a shape more befitting a club, "follow me."

* * *

A/N: After reading some reviews and thinking about it a bit, I have to agree that Penny's creation still isn't basically the Third Magic. It's getting awfully close, though. However, I stand by what I said about Archer. While his performance against Berserker _seems_ good, it's not when you take everything into consideration. Specifically how Archer is the perfect counter to Berserker. Archer is an archer up against someone who can only fight from melee and UBW makes God Hand a minor annoyance at worst. He also has access to _at least_ one weapon capable of taking seven of Berserker's in one attack (Shirou could use that attack on his own as seen in his "fight" against Gilgamesh and thus so could Archer). Yet, despite his overwhelming advantage, he still lost. The only conclusion is that Archer is a garbage Servant since Rin is a fantastic Master (Nasu has stated that she would handily win the HGW if she had summoned Saber instead).

Another pretty same-y chapter but there wasn't a lot I could do here and I did everything I could. I changed some things up to make more sense (Why does Oobleck know about the White Fang being there and why do none of Team RWBY find that suspicious?) and a few more things to account for a certain someone's absense but that was pretty much it. The reasons the others have for being Hunters haven't changed and thus all related conversations wouldn't really change. There's only so much I can do if I want to keep the changes logical and not changing them for the sake of changing them. I also tweaked Oobleck's dialogue in a few places to keep his general level of intelligence.

Speaking of that certain someone, I have removed Zwei from this volume. I fully expect to receive complaints about that but he adds absolutely nothing of value and would only make this chapter be even _more_ same-y. He still exists and will be making appearances if we ever check in at the Xiao Long household but that's it. Seeing as how he vanishes after V2 and isn't seen again until V4, this change felt reasonable. It also makes Oobleck less of an idiot since he apparently didn't notice Ruby's large backpack until _after_ the flight to Mountain Glenn.

Anyway, next chapter is the Volume 2 finale and it's jam-packed with all the everything. I hope you look forward to it and I'll see you next week! Oh, but have the last omake of the volume before you go:

 **Omake 8**  
Trust  
During V2C12

General James Ironwood sighed deeply as he stared out at the City of Vale from Beacon's airship port. The lights of the city twinkled like stars as Atlesian airships hovered protectively above. It was a glorious sight that signified the unity the two great nations had and James took great pride in this fact but the sight also left him feeling uneasy. The fact that the ships were here under these circumstances was a sign of how desperate things had become. Instead of a show of strength and unity as everyone rallied together to defeat Salem, it was instead a not-so-subtle attempt by James to basically strongarm Ozpin into actually taking action.

"Trouble sleeping?" a familiar voice called out from behind. James turned slightly to see Glynda Goodwitch approaching him.

"Arm was acting up," James said as he gripped his left bicep.

"Of course, so logically, you got out of bed, dressed yourself completely and decided to gaze menacingly out into the distance," Glydna said wryly as she came to stand by his side. "What's wrong?" she asked with a concerned look.

James gave Glynda a long look before speaking, "I've trusted him for years. We both have. I just… I can't help but feel like he's keeping us in the dark."

"Don't be ridiculous! You know very well that we are not the ones in the dark," came Glynda's immediate retort.

"Can you be sure of that? Ozpin has been doing a lot of things that make no sense and, whenever asked, he just gives vague answers. I just refuse to believe that a man that I've trusted for so long would act so… passively."

Glynda put a reassuring hand on James' shoulder before saying, "You're a good person, James. You've always done what you think is best for the people, even against strong protest. It's admirable. But it's high time you stopped talking about trust and started showing it." She dropped her hand and joined James in looking out over the city lights. She was quiet for a moment longer before saying, "Ozpin has experience that the rest of us lack. And I think that's something worth remembering."


	26. V2C13: Last Train to Nowhere

A/N: Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

* * *

Ruby Rose held her breath as she waited patiently in the shadow. She heard the two voices speaking, heard their clothes rustling, heard their footsteps as their boots clacked on the hard ground. She watched as one of the two guards at the outpost drew closer and closer and closer still. At just the right time, Ruby took off with a burst of her Semblance and twisted herself midair to collide with the guard's face in a dropkick. As she and the guard went flying, she reached out and grabbed the guard's rifle before hitting the ground in a sliding roll.

Before the other guard could fully react, Ruby fired off a burst of rounds from the rifle at him, each one striking home until his Aura shattered in a flash of light. Once his Aura was down, she tossed the rifle up and took off with another burst of her Semblance, grimacing as her knee collided with the man's face in a sickening crunch.

Kicking off of the wall behind the guard, Ruby launched herself into the air and caught the rifle and unleashed another burst of fire at the first guard who was still picking himself up off the floor. The rounds didn't break his Aura as they impacted it but that was within her parameters as she twisted herself around until she could bound off of the ceiling. The butt of the rifle hitting the back of the man's head was enough to break his Aura and his head slamming into the ground was enough to knock him out.

Ruby let out a nervous breath as she tossed aside the rifle. She had been wandering the tunnels beneath Mountain Glenn for a little while now and that had been the third outpost she had encountered. They got a little easier to take down with each one as Ruby put more of her training with Shirou into practice but she would give just about anything to have her weapon or, better yet, her team with her.

Putting her feelings aside for the moment, Ruby pressed on, the flashlight of her Scroll the only thing preventing her from being in complete darkness. Ruby had never considered herself to be claustrophobic and the tunnels were rather spacious but the atmosphere of the place was putting her on edge. It took a serious amount of focused breathing and positive thinking to keep herself calm.

On and on Ruby walked, not really knowing where she was or where she was going. Her Scroll said that she had only been down there for about ten minutes but it had felt like hours as each second crawled by as her senses sharpened themselves to a razor's edge to try and notice any danger before it was too late. Finally, after what felt like miles of walking, Ruby noticed a faint glow in the distance and hurriedly turned her flashlight off.

Taking some time to quiet her breathing and soften her footsteps (Ruby was _really_ thankful that Blake had taught them the basics of stealth), Ruby crept along the wall until she came to a sharp bend in the tunnel, the light coming from the other side. At this point, she could hear the sound of various voices and of heavy machinery being used.

"Come on, you bozos, hurry up! That bastard'll be here any minute!" she heard a very familiar voice say. She once again activated the inward-facing camera on her Scroll and carefully held it past the edge until she could see inside.

What Ruby saw was a large cavern filled with generators and artificial lights. As she looked around, "cavern" might have been the wrong word as there were buildings upon buildings absolutely everywhere. What was most unsettling, however, was the fact that this appeared to be the White Fang base that her team had been looking for as numerous White Fang members scurried about the area moving cargo and setting things up. Some of them were even in Paladins to move especially large crates around. While she couldn't tell exactly what they were up to, from what little she could see through her camera, they appeared to be loading up an old train.

Needing a closer look, Ruby located a good place to hide and waited for the right moment to move, using carefully timed bursts of her Semblance to increase her speed without leaving behind too many rose petals. She eventually came to a stop behind a fallen wall before carefully peering over it to see the person that the familiar voice belonged to.

"Keep a move on, people! We're running out of time!" Roman Torchwick shouted as he directed the members of the White Fang. After confirming his presence and getting a feel for the layout as best as she could, Ruby weighed her options and tried to figure out what to do. At her current level, taking out this many people without her weapon would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. She had only gotten by so far due to the element of surprise. Of course, even if she _had_ her weapon, there was the issue of the couple Paladins in the area. It took her entire team plus Shirou in order to take one down before. There was simply no way she could handle one on her own.

As Ruby was contemplating her options, a voice rang out. "Intruder!" Every muscle in Ruby's body tensed up as she feared the worst. The next words, however, stopped her from moving. "Oh gods! He's here!"

Confused, Ruby peered over the edge again and what she saw completely floored her. Emiya Shirou, wielding a crimson lance, rushed forward and impaled one of the White Fang with a single trust. Shirou withdrew the lance, blood spurting out as the White Fang goon dropped to the floor, and quickly did a spinning jump toward the next one, the blade of the spear cutting an arc through the air before going clean through the other goon's neck.

Ruby couldn't believe what she was seeing. To her, Shirou was a kind and gentle soul. He was someone who'd do anything he could to help others without asking anything in return. He was the guy who, despite his own troubles, always had a gentle smile for people. That was something that she had admired greatly about him and was one of the reasons why she had wanted to date him.

And yet, the sight before her was completely different. The _Shirou_ before her was completely different. His face was an impassive mask, his eyes cooly focused as he tore through the White Fang one after another, ending their lives without any hesitation. There were no traces of the gentle boy who had helped her out on her first day at Beacon. Instead, there was only a soldier whose heart had been hardened by a lifetime of conflict and bloodshed.

Unable to reconcile the image of Shirou she had in her head with the reality that laid before her, Ruby could only stand there slack-jawed, utterly paralyzed. Even when a rocket flew her way, accidentally redirected when Shirou knocked away a man's bazooka, she didn't move until the last minute when her instincts completely took over. Even then, she had been too slow and she cried out in pain as the blast flung her through the air and sent her crashing on the ground.

"What? Ruby?" she heard Shirou say. Ruby started to slowly pick herself up but, before she could even get halfway, she was yanked to her feet and felt something cold and hard press against her temple as an arm wrapped itself around her, pinning her own arms.

"Take one more step and Little Red's brains will be all over that wall!" she heard Roman scream. Shirou stopped his movements and leveled a glare at Roman, his killing intent so great that Roman actually flinched.

"Not so tough now, are ya‽" Roman taunted. It was clear by his voice that he was absolutely panicked. "Why don't you be a good little hero and stand there while my men fill you with holes‽"

In answer, Shirou slowly slid into a low stance with his lance. Ruby's eyes widened as the tingling sensation swept through her body like a flood, far greater than ever before, and it seemed as if the very air around Shirou was getting heavier.

"Hey, I said don't come closer!" Roman said as he jerked Ruby back a bit. "And don't try to throw that thing, either! No matter how fast you are, my trigger finger's faster!"

"I don't need to throw it," Shirou said cooly. "Your heart is already pierced."

"What the—?"

 **"Gáe Bolg!"**

What happened next was utterly impossible.

Shirou thrust the crimson lance toward the ground but it immediately bent upward at a right angle before heading toward them faster than anyone could react, bending and twisting at utterly impossible angles in the process. The red line that was the lance went past them before doubling around and impaling Roman in the back. Roman coughed up spittle in shock, his grip loosening, as Shirou raised his lance up before making a slamming motion to the side, Roman following the movements.

As the lance returned to normal, Ruby staggered forward, her legs threatening to give out. "Shirou, what…?" was all she could get out before her throat closed up.

"Are you okay, Ruby?" Shirou asked as he approached. "What are you—" Shirou stopped mid-sentence as they heard Roman cough. Shirou leveled a glare at him as he struggled to get onto his hands and knees despite the blood pouring out of his chest and mouth.

"You're still alive," Shirou stated as he started walking toward the criminal. "I guess you're pretty lucky. But luck won't save you this time." As Shirou stood in front of him, he twirled the lance and got it into a throwing position before going for the killing blow. Ruby screamed at him to stop but it was too late as the lance pierced through Roman's head…

And shattered the illusion like glass.

"Dammit!" Shirou cursed as he jumped backward, twirling the spear back into a ready position. Now that she had the chance to really look at him, he seemed a lot more tired now than he had been before that attack. Any attempts at conversation were stalled by the arrival of several more White Fang members.

Shirou immediately moved to place himself between the White Fang and Ruby. "Ruby, stay back. I'll project a—" whatever he had been about to say was cut off as an explosion was heard in the distance. Several members of the White Fang looked behind them just to scream as another explosion sent them all flying to reveal a certain buxom blonde.

"Ruby!" Yang cried out in relief as Ruby dashed forward to glomp her sister.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked as she ran up to them.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! But listen! Torchwick's got all kinds of weapons and robots down here!" Ruby said in a hurry.

"What‽" Blake exclaimed as she handed Ruby her weapon.

"Androids, mechs, they're all loaded up on the train cars!"

"Shirou, status report!" Doctor Oobleck said as he moved past Team RWBY to stand directly before the redhead.

Shirou glanced at Team RWBY before answering, "Most of the White Fang in the area have been eliminated but Roman Torchwick and Neo managed to escape. I was unable to determine what they were planning."

Doctor Oobleck nodded before saying, "Regrettable but we have nothing to worry about. The idea that they'd use the train is ridiculous. These tunnels are sealed, the tracks lead to a dead-end."

"Get to your places, we are leaving now!" Roman's pained voice called out over a PA system. Immediately after, there was a metallic lurching sound as the train started to move forward.

"Well, it sounds like they're going _somewhere_ ," Yang commented as she reloaded Ember Celica.

"So, what do we do?" Weiss asked.

"I believe we only have one option…" Doctor Oobleck said.

"We're stopping that train!" Ruby declared before leading the charge.

OoOoOoO

Roman Torchwick groaned as he leaned against a wall, one hand resting on the blood-soaked bandages that covered his chest. He had absolutely no idea what that bastard did to pull that off but, whatever it was, he had nearly taken his damn heart out. As it was, it was a minor miracle that he was still alive and his Aura was working overtime to try and close the wound.

Nearby, a concerned-looking Neopolitan approached to offer a steadying hand but Roman waved her off. "I'll be fine. We've got work to do right now," he said as he returned his attention to the communication system. He fiddled with the settings for a moment before putting on the headset.

"That bastard got to us. We're in motion now. Team RWBY and one of Beacon's professors are with him," he reported. There was silence for a long moment before Cinder Fall's voice came through.

"You couldn't even stop one child, Roman? I'm _very_ disappointed in you."

"Fuck off, lady! That godsdammed brat nearly took my fucking heart out with some crazy impossible magic lance! I've never even seen the fucker _use_ a lance before!"

"Magic, you say? That's certainly interesting. Very well. What's your ETA?"

Roman did some quick mental math while wiping the cold sweat off his forehead with the handkerchief provided by Neo before answering, "About fifteen minutes."

"Understood. We'll be ready on our end. Just make sure you don't fail yet again."

Roman cursed as he turned off the radio and threw down the headset before collapsing onto a bench and resting his head against the wall. How had things come to this? His luck was one of his best attributes and it, along with his wits, had been what got him through countless tough situations before. He was perfectly content being the boss of a petty crime gang and causing all sorts of headaches for the rich bastards who ran society.

But now? Now he had been roped into the crazy schemes of some bitch and her lackies to… Honestly, he had no idea exactly _what_ they hoped to accomplish. Well, he had a fair idea as to what they were trying to do but he couldn't even _begin_ to guess as to why they were doing it. It didn't matter, though. His reward for helping was substantial and his contract with them would be finished once Vale had fallen. After that, he could run away with Neo to someplace far away and just live out the rest of his life in peace. He had had _more_ than enough excitement for one lifetime.

Roman opened his eyes when he felt Neo lay a hand on his arm. Concern was written all over her face and he couldn't help but give her a weak smile. This calmed her down somewhat but any further attempts at reassurance were stopped when the door to the car flew open.

"Boss! They made it on the train!" some White Fang flunky said.

Roman groaned as he rolled his eyes. _Of course_ they were on the train. "Then grab some cargo and get them off the train!" The flunky nodded before running off and Roman could only shake his head while muttering, "Idiots. The lot of them."

Turning his attention to Neo, Roman said, "I don't trust these goons to even slow them down, let alone actually stop them. You go, too. I'll be fine here. Just make sure to be careful around that redheaded freak and his crazy fucking lance."

Neo gave him a confident smirk before vanishing. Roman sighed as he leaned his head back against the wall. This was going to be a _long_ fifteen minutes.

OoOoOoO

Team RWBY, Shirou, and Doctor Oobleck all came to a stop as they landed on top of the train, weapons at the ready. The train had started to seriously pick up speed, the artificial lights and support beams blurring by at a regular rate.

"Hurry, children!" Doctor Oobleck said. "We must get to the front and stop this train!"

"Err, Doctor?" Weiss, who had already moved on and had opened the hatch, asked.

"Yes, Weiss?"

"What's this?" she asked as she gestured inside of it.

Doctor Oobleck and the others all gathered around to peer inside the train car and found a large, cylindrical device with wires and a screen attached. Immediately, Shirou had a bad feeling about it.

"That, my dear," Doctor Oobleck said as he kneeled down to get a closer look, "appears to be a bomb."

The members of Team RWBY immediately flinched back as Shirou started to scan through Unlimited Blade Works for anything that might help. The problem was that he was running low on prana after having projected and then broken numerous Noble Phantasms throughout the day. While he had taken frequent breaks to meditate and absorb the plentiful surrounding mana, it was still rather taxing and invoking Gáe Bolg's curse had left him more tired than he would like to be.

"We've got baddies!" Ruby called out as she pointed toward the front of the train. Indeed, quite a few White Fang members were starting to climb on top of the train and advance toward them. Shirou was frankly surprised by their numbers given how many of them he had killed in the past twenty-four hours.

"Well, I didn't expect them to go—" Doctor Oobleck stopped as the bomb started to beep and the screen on it turned red, "easy on us. Time to go!" Everyone started moving to the next train car but Doctor Oobleck stopped Blake before she could move. "Blake! Detach the caboose! It will kill us all!"

"On it!" Blake replied with a nod before hopping down. She readied Gambol Shroud but stopped in surprise as the car detached itself. "Huh? It decoupled itself!" she called up.

Doctor Oobleck's cry of confused shock was followed up by Yang saying, "I guess he _really_ doesn't want us on this train." As she said this, Doctor Oobleck watched as the train car got further and further away before finally exploding, opening up large holes in the tunnels.

"That's not good…" he said.

"Err, neither is this!" Ruby said as she gestured to the inside of the car they were on.

"Another bomb‽" Blake cried out.

Doctor Oobleck looked around for a moment before hastily running forward, chanting "No" all the while. Once on the next car, he opened the hatch and shouted back as he confirmed his worst fears, "They _all_ have bombs!"

At the same time as this revelation, the bomb in the car Team RWBY and Shirou were standing on activated as the car decoupled. The group quickly made their way to the next one as Yang cried out, "This doesn't make sense!"

"Get the Humans!" one of the White Fang called out, reminding everyone that they were there. Without any hesitation, Team RWBY and Shirou readied their weapons and charged into battle.

Yang was the first one to meet the enemy. She casually batted away the goon's baton before delivering a blow to his gut fierce enough to lift him off the ground. She then drew back her other fist with a wink before spiking him through the hatch and into the train car. Two more came at her but she was easily able to fend off their attacks before stunning one with a sharp jab to the solar plexus. The other one came at her with a swing but Yang casually ducked under it before rising with an uppercut that launched him into the air. A quick roundhouse kick sent both of them tumbling and screaming off the side of the train.

Next was Blake who had to take a quick moment to steel herself. She had always been one of the stronger combatants in the White Fang and this incident proved that said fact hadn't changed. Careful use of her Semblance allowed her to flash between multiple enemies, avoiding their attacks and striking them from all directions. It only took her a few seconds to leave five of them groaning in pain on the roof.

Weiss opted for a more straightforward approach. She switched Myrtenaster's chamber to ice Dust before charging forward, practically dancing as she slashed at the enemies' legs and the ground near them to leave their feet encased in ice. Unable to move, they were helpless as Ruby charged after with a burst of her Semblance, Crescent Rose's head changing to be more like a sickle as she spun throughout her charge to turn herself into a whirlwind of destruction. As a result, the ice trapping the White Fang goons was shattered and they were sent flying off of the train.

Shirou was the last one to engage the enemy, having taken a moment to decide on a course of action. On one hand, his standing orders were to eliminate the White Fang from the area. On the other, he didn't want Team RWBY's opinion of him to be tainted after seeing him outright killing people. In the end, he chose to go with lethal force, figuring that Ruby had likely already seen him do as much and had seen him attempt to kill Roman while the others had possibly seen the aftermath of one of his other battles. Besides, the people he was fighting were attempting to put the lives of nearly a million people at risk and that's without factoring in the repercussions their actions would have. These people could be shown no mercy.

Shirou charged forward with his enhanced speed before attacking the goon closest to him with a spinning slash that went clear through her neck. He followed this up with a heel kick that sent the headless corpse toppling into the goon behind it. Before the other person could react, Shirou changed his grip and hurled Gáe Bolg through both of them before following up with a flying kick to the butt of Gáe Bolg's shaft that sent the cursed lance all the way through the two of them and into the leg of a third. The third one barely had time to scream in pain before Shirou was on him with an elbow strike to his face followed quickly by another clean decapitation.

While this was going on, Doctor Oobleck looked back and watched the train car explode. This time, the holes created by the explosion allowed a truly massive number and variety of Grimm through, all of which started to make their way toward the train.

"Oh dear… He's leading the Grimm to the city!" he called out after the battle had come to a close.

"What?" Blake asked as everyone looked back toward the doctor.

"It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings for the Grimm!"

"That's insane!" At Blake's cry, another train car detached itself.

"We have to hurry!" Doctor Oobleck said as he started to move forward. "Blake, Weiss, and Yang; you three go below and try to stop those bombs!"

"What about us?" Ruby asked.

"We're going to stop this train!"

As the three girls made their way into the train; Doctor Oobleck, Ruby, and Shirou made their way forward. Ahead of them, more White Fang goons were climbing on top of the train along with, somewhat distressingly, a Paladin. The only advantage was that the Paladin was being piloted by one of the goons which had been proven to be rather weak. As such, even with its Aura amplification, taking it down shouldn't be nearly as difficult.

"Ruby! Keep going to the front of the train! Don't stop for anything!" Shirou said as he readied Gáe Bolg.

"When you get there, you'll find a horizontal red lever! Pull that as far as it can go!" Doctor Oobleck instructed.

"On it!" Ruby said before taking off in a blur of rose petals, sliding underneath the Paladin.

"Are you ready, Professor?" Shirou asked as he stared down the opposition.

Doctor Oobleck took a swing of coffee before smiling as Antiquity's Roast transformed into its club form, a small pilot light at the tip. Shirou idly wondered if the professor's drink was healthy if it was that flammable. "It's 'doctor' and I'm ready, my boy!"

As Shirou charged forward to deal with the goons, Doctor Oobleck swung his weapon and unleashed a wave of fireballs that curved around Shirou and collided with the Paladin. As it was staggering backward, Doctor Oobleck charged in and hit it was an explosive combo that left the machine in pieces and falling off of the train.

As a second Paladin appeared and aimed its weapons at the doctor, Shirou rushed in and slashed at one of its arms, the metal sparking as Gáe Bolg cut into it. Shirou quickly crouched low and slashed at the ankle joints of its right leg before following up with a lunge that cut into the knee of the same leg. Now behind the Paladin, Shirou quickly jumped onto its back and switched his grip on Gáe Bolg before taking aim at where he knew the engine to be. Between Gáe Bolg's nature as a Noble Phantasm, Lancer's attributes, and its weakened Aura; the Paladin's defenses stood no chance as the cursed lance pierced the machine's "heart" and brought it to a stop. As Shirou hopped down, this allowed Doctor Oobleck, who had just finished up dealing with the remaining goons, to smash the side of the Paladin and send it off of the train.

"We need to provide a distraction so Ruby can get through! Let's keep going!" Doctor Oobleck ordered as the duo charged onward.

OoOoOoO

Weiss, Blake, and Yang all landed inside the train car with a dull "thud." There was no bomb immediately present in this one, just a large number of unidentifiable crates, but that didn't mean that there weren't possibly more further in. With the sounds of running and fighting going on above them, the atmosphere inside was incredibly tense, far more so than it had ever been, and it left all three girls on edge.

"I guess this is what we trained for," Yang said after taking a steadying breath. Blake, meanwhile, ejected the clip of standard ammunition from Gambol Shroud and replaced it with Dust rounds. She only had a few of these which was why she hadn't used them before but now was absolutely a time when she couldn't afford to be stingy.

With a nod to each other, the three girls charged forward only to very quickly come to a halt as a well-dressed girl with brown and pink hair descended from the ceiling. Neopolitan smiled sweetly at them as she stood before them with her parasol.

"You two go on ahead. This one's mine," Yang said as she slid into a guard stance. The other two nodded before running on ahead. Neo attempted to intercept them but was forced to block as Yang fired off an explosive round at her, allowing the other two to go on to the next car.

Now alone with her enemy, Yang walked forward until she was standing before Neo, staring down at the girl who was nearly a full head shorter than she was. Yang's cold glare was meet with a sinister smile as the fight began.

Yang was the first to attack, striking out with a right hook that Neo casually backstepped. Yang followed up with a fierce punch combo but, no matter how she attacked, Neo remained one step ahead of her, dodging most of her attacks and parrying the ones she couldn't dodge. Even worse, while Yang was unable to land a hit, Neo had been clipping her during the brief pauses in her attacks. Growing frustrated, Yang switched things up and went for a snap kick aimed at Neo's chin but the other girl had foreseen this, too, and backflipped at the last instance to avoid it. Neo did a handspring out of her backflip and landed perfectly sitting on the crate behind her, legs crossed and parasol open on her shoulder.

Yang let out a growl as she charged forward, her eyes turning red. She came at Neo, who was looking slightly hazy, with a right cross but was forced back right before her attack landed as something hit her in the chest. Neo went on the offensive this time, hitting Yang with several thrusts of her parasol before coming in for a swing. Yang recovered in time to block the swing and counter with a left cross but Neo casually redirected the attack before spinning around Yang, her grip on the blonde's left wrist causing the arm to twist awkwardly behind her.

Thinking of taking advantage of her leverage, Yang growled as she shifted her weight and attempted to bodily throw Neo at the wall. Neo, however, flowed with the movement and landed on her feet before using the momentum of Yang's attempted throw against her to throw _her_ into the ceiling.

Yang let out something halfway between a groan and a growl as she pushed herself back to her feet. Neo's smug little smirk was making her blood boil and she wanted nothing in that moment than to knock it off of her pretty little face. Before she could charge back in, however, her previous fight with Shirou suddenly flashed in her mind. Thinking back on it, this situation wasn't terribly different from that one. She had let her anger get the better of her and it had led to a humiliating moral defeat.

Not wanting to let her anger lead to an _actual_ defeat, Yang closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she pushed her anger away. She had to immediately go on the defensive once she opened her violet eyes as Neo had taken advantage of the lapse in her defense but her thinking was a lot clearer now. She decided to copy her opponent's strategy and focus more on defense than offense, attacking only when there was a clear opening.

What followed was an interesting but frustrating exchange for Yang. The fight was now a lot more even than it had been before as Neo wasn't able to get any hits in but Yang had yet to land a blow, either. While she was confident in her stamina, she knew that she simply didn't have the time to play around and needed to move on as soon as possible. Given this, Yang did the one thing that she really didn't want to do:

At the first possible opportunity, Yang disengaged and ran away, knocking down a stack of crates to slow Neo and blasting her way through the door and into the next car.

OoOoOoO

In the next train car, Weiss and Blake kept running, trusting in Yang to deal with Neo. The two of them slowed down, however, when a revving sound was heard coming from the opposite end. Coming through the opposite door was an absolutely massive man dressed in a White Fang uniform and wielding a chainsaw that was half as long as he was tall.

"You go on ahead!" Weiss said as she steeled herself for battle.

"Got it!" Blake replied as the two Huntresses-in-training pressed their charge. The White Fang Lieutenant chuckled menacingly as he raised his chainsaw and made to swipe at Weiss but Blake parried the blow before using her Semblance to rush past him and into the next car. Taking advantage of the opening Blake created, Weiss lashed out with a quick series of thrusts to the man's chest, the last of which sent him sprawling to the ground.

The Lieutenant chuckled again as he got up and readied his chainsaw. "Finally, I get to kill a Schnee…" he said in a deep, menacing voice. Weiss gulped thickly but didn't let any fear show on her face as she readied Myrtenaster in a guard stance.

Their battle started in earnest with a brief but intense exchange of attacks. Weiss had the upper hand in terms of speed and agility but the Lieutenant was incredibly sturdy and was strong enough that it was simply impossible for Weiss to block his attacks. As such, it was clear from the beginning that this was to be a battle of attrition. Could Weiss get in enough blows to break his Aura or would he get in a few lucky hits first? Weiss simply couldn't allow the second outcome to happen.

After the first real exchange of blows ended, Weiss quickly backpedaled and changed Dust types. If speed and agility were her advantages then she would capitalize on them as much as possible. As the Lieutenant lumbered toward her, Weiss summoned a time glyph beneath her and thrust Myrtenaster into it, the Dust and her Semblance combining to create a hastening effect opposite to the one she had used to stop Roman's rockets. Thus prepared, she dashed forward in a blur, her speed now comparable to Ruby's, and struck at her enemy. The Lieutenant was unable to do anything as Weiss used her Semblance to create platforms to bound off of and attack him from every conceivable angle, replicating the attack that Ruby had used against Shirou the first time they had sparred.

Weiss' haste wouldn't last forever, however, and she knew this well. When she felt its effects start to wear off, she immediately disengaged from her enemy and prepared a fire glyph. With a swing of her sword and a release of the right Dust, a series of fireballs flew out toward her enemy but he had recovered far faster than she had hoped. Instead of being hit by the attack head-on, the Lieutenant instead charged forward and cut through the fireballs with his chainsaw before attacking Weiss with a spinning overhead slice.

Stunned as she was by the Lieutenant's quick recovery and even quicker action, Weiss was unable to dodge in time so she instead hastily threw up a barrier glyph. Weiss winced as the massive chainsaw slammed into the surface and started sparking but she held firm against the assault even when the Lieutenant threw all of his weight into it.

Just as she was trying to think of a way to turn this situation around, the Lieutenant reached underneath the glyph and grabbed the surprised Weiss by the face before pulling her out and slamming her head into the floor. Her Aura held firm but the force of the impact caused her to black out briefly as the Lieutenant threw her into the ceiling and drew his chainsaw back in preparation for a swing that would surely cut in two.

Before the attack could land, however, there was a loud explosion and the Lieutenant was blown away by a metal door crashing into him. "Weiss!" Yang called out in worry as the heiress crashed into the floor.

Weiss got up with a groan and held her throbbing head with her free hand. "Did you get her?" she asked.

Yang scowled, "No, I didn't. Seal off the passage. I've got the big guy." Weiss nodded and ran off to do just that as Yang stepped forward. The Lieutenant was just now getting up with a groan of his own and stared down his new challenger.

"Alright! I'm gonna let out my frustrations all over your face!" Yang taunted, her eyes turning red and hair flaring up as she slammed her fists together. She then charged at the Lieutenant who was preparing to intercept her charge with a swing. Having seen this strategy before from a much more skilled opponent, it was child's play for Yang to counter it. She pulled back her right arm and threw her entire weight into superman punch that she aimed not at her enemy but at his chainsaw, firing off a round at the same time as the blow connected to enhance the effect. The result was that the weapon snapped in two, the top half flying through and out a window.

The Lieutenant let out a confused sound but Yang didn't give him a moment of mercy as she immediately followed up with left body blow delivered at full power, the force enough to lift the larger man off of the ground and make him cough up spittle. Yang followed this up with a spinning roundhouse kick to his head that sent him flying out the window and cratering into the wall before being quickly left behind by the train.

"I feel like we should have swapped opponents," Weiss commented as she approached the now happy Yang.

"Yeah, probably. But let's go! Blake might need our help!"

OoOoOoO

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my favorite kitty cat," Roman Torchwick said as he pushed himself off of the wall he had been leaning against. For a person who had just had a hole stabbed in his back, he was looking fairly hearty.

"Roman," Blake hissed as she got into a combat stance. "Get out of my way."

"Why? So you can thwart my plans? Play the hero? It's not gonna work, ya know. No matter how many good deeds you do, people are still going to hate the Faunus. At best, you'll just be an exception."

"What do you know? You're just an evil Human."

"Evil? Ha! I'm just a part of the 'in' crowd, kitty cat. If anyone's trying to bring about unity between Humans and the Faunus, it's me!"

Blake yelled in anger as she charged Roman. His movements were slower and more labored than they had been on the docks, he was clearly still affected by his injuries, but he was keeping up regardless. Blake came at him from every angle but he was steadily getting better and better at predicting her Semblance usage and thus Blake was having an increasingly difficult time avoiding being hit.

Deciding it was time to bring out her trump card, Blake waited for Roman to go for a thrust before using her Semblance while simultaneously firing off fire Dust. The power of the Dust combined with her Shadow to create a flaming simulacrum that exploded once Roman made contact with it.

Blake pushed her advantage and rushed in, attacking Roman with a rapid flurry of slashes. Even off balance as he was, he still managed to block most of her attacks but a few slipped through his guard. The situation changed when Blake dodged one of Roman's swings only to find the business end of Melodic Cudgel pointed in her face. Unable to dodge in time, Blake screamed out in pain as the flare exploded against her face and sent her flying backward to bounce painfully off of the floor. She managed to correct herself in the air just in time to land on the door leading to the next car before pushing off of it, launching herself back at Roman with a roar of anger.

The next change happened after Blake's third usage of Dust, the second having been used to create a stone duplicate to block another of Roman's shots so she could get back in close. For the third, Blake released ice Dust alongside her Semblance and smirked as Roman found his weapon stuck inside an ice duplicate. Blake appeared behind him to attack but was stunned when Roman released his weapon and caught her arms before forcing them apart and catching her in the bridge of the nose with a headbutt. As Blake stumbled backward, Roman reached behind him and fired off another flare to break the ice duplicate and free his weapon before following the motion through with a rising swing that Blake barely backflipped in time to dodge.

"What _are_ you even doing?" Roman asked as he caught his breath. He was looking rather pale and sweating pretty heavily by this point. "I saw you at the rally, ya know, which means that _you_ saw all of the recruits that we have. Don't you get it? The Faunus don't want to peacefully coexist with Humans anymore. I don't think they ever did to begin with! No, they want to tear the world down brick by brick and build a _new_ world in its place with them on top! They're even willing to work alongside a Human that they hate so much if he feeds them pretty words and gives them guns!"

"Shut up, shut up, _shut up,_ ** _shut up, SHUT UP!_** " Blake roared as she was pushed to her limits. Roman's eyes widened in fear as a purple glow enveloped Blake's body. **"Certain Kill:"** Blake surged forward at incredible speed, a trail of afterimages in her wake. Roman tried his best to block the oncoming assault but his guard was blown through with the very first attack and, as such, he was helpless against all the rest. What followed was a high-speed flurry of blows, streaks of purple left behind as Gambol Shroud blurred through the air. For the last hit, Blake backflipped away and into a runner's stance, her arms crossed in front of her. **"Blossom Dance!"** There was a flash of motion and Blake was on the opposite side of Roman, her arms now apart. An instant later, a purple X appeared in the air around Roman and he was sent flying onto his back.

Now panting somewhat herself, Blake turned around and glared at Roman. A flash of color signified that his Aura had been broken. "Well, well, well. Good job, kitty cat. Ya did it. Ya put this evil Human down," Roman said wryly even as his entire body was coursing with pain. "But what now? What about the other evil Humans? What about the evil _Faunus_? Are ya gonna put us all down?" Blake screamed in anger as she stomped on Roman's face, knocking him out.

At this moment, the door to the previous car opened and Weiss and Yang came running in. "Oh, hey, you won! Way to go, Blake!" Yang cheered with a smile as she saw the scene before her. Blake tried to return the smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes as Roman's words continued to bounce around in her head.

Before any conversation could be had, an incredibly loud screeching sound filled the air causing Blake to wince in pain as the train ever so slowly ground to a halt. Once the train had stopped moving, the three of them shared excited glances before quickly making their way to the roof with Roman in tow where they found none other than Ruby Rose climbing out of the front of the train with a giant grin on her face.

"We did it! We saved Vale!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Excellent work, everyone!" Doctor Oobleck said as he and Shirou approached the group. "You've even secured a valuable prisoner! This is truly remarkable!"

"What do we do with him anyway?" Weiss asked as she looked down at Roman's unconscious body. "We don't have any rope or handcuffs…"

"Allow me," Shirou said as he stepped forward. Ruby had already seen him use Gáe Bulg so he saw little point in keeping his true powers a secret any longer. Especially given the circumstances.

Holding one hand out, Shirou focused some prana and everyone looked on in amazement as a pair of handcuffs materialized out of thin air. While everyone was still stunned, Shirou bent down and quickly secured Roman.

Blake was the first to recover fast enough to ask, "How did you—"

"Later," Shirou interrupted as he stood back up and looked down the train tunnel. "There's still a hoard of Grimm headed this way. We need to get out of here, fast."

"I concur," Doctor Oobleck said as he threw Roman over his shoulder. "If we keep following the tracks, we should reach an access tunnel. From there, we can make our way back to the surface."

Ruby shook her head to clear it of unnecessary thoughts before nodding resolutely. "Let's go, everyone!"

OoOoOoO

A little while later, the entire group breathed a sigh of relief as they finished climbing the ladder and reached the surface. The air was particularly sweet to Shirou who had spent the last twenty-eight hours underground. As it was, they were in the middle of a wooded area with the city of Vale visible in the distance. The first rays of the morning sun were just starting to creep over the horizon and bathed everything in a nice golden glow.

Finally out of constant danger, Shirou let himself relax slightly and had to catch himself on Gáe Bulg as his legs threatened to give out.

"Are you alright, Shirou?" Ruby asked as she rushed over to stabilize him.

Shirou gave her a tired smile, "I'll be alright. Just a little tired, is all. I haven't had a full night's sleep in two days."

"So, this 'clandestine extermination mission' you were on was against the White Fang we were hunting down?" Weiss asked with a slightly accusatory tone.

Shirou winced but nodded, "That's right. My mission was to locate their base and eliminate them with extreme prejudice."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Yang shouted. "We could have come to help you as soon as we got here or, hell, gone with you yesterday!"

Shirou looked pained as he answered, "I was given the mission first thing in the morning and had to leave immediately. As far as I knew, you all were still asleep. Besides, my mission wasn't to capture them or beat them up. It was to _kill_ them. I didn't want you all to stain your hands with blood if you didn't have to."

Blake's bow twitched as her cat ears drooped and she looked away. As someone who also had stained hands, she could certainly understand his reasoning. This answer, however, only seemed to aggravate Yang even more.

"And you're okay with _your_ hands being stained‽ You may not be officially a part of our team but you might as well be! If you have to get your hands dirty then we _all_ have to get our hands dirty! Simple… as that…" she said as she got right up in Shirou's face. She deflated, however, when she saw what happened.

Right before their eyes, Shirou seemed to age as his expression became agonized. He was now leaning heavily on his spear and his voice was impossibly fragile as he answered, "You don't understand, Yang. From the very beginning, my hands were stained with blood. I already bear the weight of countless lives; a few more wouldn't—"

Shirou and Ruby both tensed up as they sensed a massive spike of energy coming from Vale. "What was that?" Ruby asked as she looked back toward the city.

Everyone except Shirou blinked as the once somber atmosphere was quickly replaced by a very tense one. "What was what?" Weiss asked, looking more than a little confused.

Shirou gave Ruby a surprised look before answering, "Nothing good." Following that declaration, numerous roars could be heard off in the distance.

"Grimm?" Blake asked as she started to draw Gambol Shroud.

"Weiss! Platform!" Ruby barked as she leaped into the air and launched herself higher with a recoil boost. Following her leader's orders perfectly, Weiss created a glyph in midair beneath Ruby for her to land on. She quickly flipped Crescent Rose around and scanned the horizon with her scope. Her silver eyes quickly widened in shock as she called down, "Guys! We've got a _lot_ of Grimm headed this way!"

"Something's drawing them to the city," Doctor Oobleck quickly surmised. "This could be bad. The city's defenses are not prepared to handle a concentrated assault."

"We'll stay here and slow them down!" Yang said as she readied Ember Celica. Ruby landed nearby and prepared to fight as well.

"Dangerous but the only possible solution with signal still down. Very well. Team RWBY, you girls stay and hold the line. Shirou and I will return to Vale with our prisoner and secure reinforcements!"

Shirou looked at Doctor Oobleck for a moment before walking forward and standing in line with Team RWBY. "Sorry but I'm going to stay and fight with my team." At his declaration, Team RWBY all gave Shirou a smile that he gladly returned.

Doctor Oobleck nodded resolutely, "Very well. Godspeed, students." With that, he took off toward the city as fast as he could.

"What's the plan, Ruby?" Yang asked as the sound of the oncoming Grimm grew louder and louder.

Ruby quickly scanned their surroundings before answering, "This clearing's pretty big so try and stay in it. There are too many blind spots in the woods. Try and stay together as much as possible. We'll be in trouble if we get separated. Weiss and I can handle any flying Grimm. Yang, you focus on the big ones. Blake, you provide support wherever you can. If you have an opening to go for a kill, take it. If your Aura starts getting low, grab your partner, fall back, and attack at range. Shirou, um…"

"I'll help Yang," Shirou said resolutely.

While Ruby had been talking, Shirou had dismissed Gáe Bulg. While incredibly useful against creatures with Aura, it wasn't particularly effective against the Grimm who lacked hearts and he simply didn't have enough prana at the moment to use its Anti-Army attack. As it was, he only had enough prana for one more projection before it started getting dangerous so he had to make it count.

As such, there was really only one choice in weapon to fight against creatures of pure darkness and malice. The sword that appeared in Shirou's hand with barely a thought was one that had appeared before him one day as if by a miracle and hadn't once left his side since. It was a holy sword whose power was exemplary and assured victory to those who used it. It had been Saber's favorite sword in life and it was the very same sword that saw her death.

As Shirou made his declaration, he tightened his grip on the sword that appeared in his hands almost unconsciously and entered into an intimately familiar yet utterly alien combat stance. The sword in his hands was Caliburn, the Golden Sword of the Victorious and its presence brought Shirou both comfort and pain.

Ruby nodded upon seeing Shirou's new sword. The strange tingling she felt when the sword appeared in his hands was oddly soothing and filled her with a strange sense of confidence. She had seen what Shirou could do with his twin blades and something told her that this sword was beyond those. She could trust in Shirou to know what to do.

(A/N: Play "Time to Say Goodbye" by Jeff Williams)

Team RWBYS slid deeper into their guard stances as the sound of the oncoming Grimm grew to a crescendo. The first Grimm broke into the clearing and the tension reached an all-time high as they held firm, waiting and waiting for the perfect moment. More and more Grimm of every type encountered thus far poured through the trees and grew ever closer. At last, the starting gun was fired as Ruby charged forward with a battle cry, her team not even half a heartbeat behind her.

Ruby slashed through the Beowolf leading the charge and followed through her swing with a low spin that caught the foreleg of a Boarbatusk. A spike of ice erupted through the creature from beneath and Ruby immediately shifted her focus to the next enemy. Crescent Rose was a constant blur of motion as Ruby bounced from one foe to the next. She wasn't overly concerned about getting a killing blow but every single swing met resistance as every single attack landed. When a Death Stalker appeared, Ruby rushed toward it with her Semblance and launched it onto its hind legs with a rising spin before pushing herself away with several shots. Yang rushed in a moment later and wailed on the creature's belly with a vicious combo that left it broken and dying on the ground.

Weiss kept her head on a swivel as she both supported her team and attacked the Grimm herself. After assisting Ruby, she took out a handful of Creeps with a few lightning-fast thrusts before spinning around and creating a barrier glyph behind Yang, protecting her for a Boarbatusk's charge. A small Nevermore dove at her but, before she could react, Blake appeared before her and took it down before moving on. When Blake had appeared, Weiss immediately launched a set of fireballs toward a flock of Nevermore before rushing over to engage a group of Beowolves. Gravity glyphs appeared underneath them and pinned to the ground, allowing Weiss to quickly dispatch them before moving to assist Ruby with an assortment of Grimm.

Blake had already been tired from her earlier Soul Surge but now she was pushing herself to her limit, using her Semblance to flash around the battlefield to both protect her team and land the finishing blow on any Grimm that the others didn't finish off. There was a slight cooldown period between her Semblance uses and that weakness was making itself apparent as there were several near misses when she flashed away from one attack just to nearly be hit by another. Despite this and her own exhaustion, she was still keeping pace with her team, felling one Grimm after another and making sure that Yang had the time she needed to focus on the bigger threats. There had been one moment that she had been so focused on defending Yang that she failed to notice a Creep leaping toward her but Shirou had appeared at the last moment, his golden sword cutting through it before he moved on.

Yang's grin was more than a little feral as her eyes burned red. She was blowing the Grimm away left and right, taking out most of them in a single blow before plowing on through to the next. The larger Grimm were being left to her and Shirou so she made sure to focus on them when they appeared, confident in knowing that her team, and Blake in particular, had her back. An Alpha Ursa roared as it broke into the clearing and charged at Weiss but Yang was on it in a flash. She met its charge head-on with a superman punch and her grin widened as the bone-like protrusion on its head cracked under the force. The Alpha Ursa reared back and took a swipe at her but she quickly hopped back before rushing in with a rising uppercut to its chest. While she was in midair, Yang followed up with a downward blow that launched the beast's head into the ground before coming down on its neck with a plunging kick. As it faded away, Yang quickly rolled out of the way of another attack before going back into the fray.

Shirou charged forward as he let Saber's skill and experience flow through him. While she had never fought anything quite like the Grimm, fighting a large number of enemies at once was something she had near endless experience doing. In this war-like battle, Caliburn cut a golden streak through the air as Shirou flowed from one enemy to the next. No matter what the enemy's subtype was, so long as it was a creature of pure evil, the holy power of Caliburn was sure to burn it away with but a single blow. This fact was made apparent when a King Taijitu made its way toward them. The large, snake-like Grimm struck at Shirou but he met its attack head-on, fearlessly leaping toward it. Caliburn shown with holy light as it cut into the back of the creature's mouth before following Shirou's trajectory down the length of half of its body. A Beowolf made to lunge at him while he was still recovering but a storm of rose petals blew by in that instant and left the creature neatly bisected in its wake.

(A/N: End song.)

On and on the fighting went for what felt like an eternity before Team RWBYS was forced back together. All of them had taken their fair share of hits during the melee and the strain of constant fighting was apparent on them all.

"I'm out of ammo!" Yang said as she batted away a few more Grimm.

"Same here! My Aura's also almost gone!" Blake said as she ducked under a Beowolf's claws before slashing into its gut.

"I'm out of fire Dust and low on the rest!" Weiss sidestepped a Creep and finished it off before spinning around to parry a Boarbatusk's charge.

As Ruby was contemplating calling for a general retreat, a loud cry resounded through the area. Everyone glanced upward to see a giant Nevermore flying toward the city. It wasn't quite as large as the one Team RWBYS had fought during their first fight as a team but it was certainly close.

"Weiss!" Ruby called out. That thing couldn't be allowed to get near the city. "Light—" Ruby cut her order off as she saw a Bullhead fly through the area. She could just barely make out four figures jumping out before a large and very pink explosion hit the giant Nevermore on the back of the head and sent it plummeting toward the ground.

A few seconds later, Team JNPR was now fighting by their side. Jaune had landed shield-first onto an Ursa's head before rolling as he hit the ground and coming up with a series of slashes to finish it off. Nora had followed up her initial attack with maniacal laughter before coming down on the Nevermore's head with a spinning smash that delivered enough force to not only obliterate the creature's head but also crater the ground. Pyrrha had opted to crash feet-first into the back of a Beowolf and let it slide along the ground while she fired off shots at the smaller Nevermore. Ren, meanwhile, caught another King Taijitu with the blades of StormFlower and spun down it before landing on its back and following up with a long burst of gunfire that tore through it.

"Jaune‽ What are you guys doing here‽" Ruby cried out in disbelief as she rejoined the fighting.

Pyrrha stabbed the Beowolf she was riding through the head before hurling her shield toward a few more Grimm and following up with a few more shots as she answered, "Jaune sensed something as we were on our way to our mission. We saw the mass of Grimm headed toward the city and headed here immediately."

"Boy, you guys are a sight for sore eyes! Welcome to the party!" Yang said cheerfully as proceeded to beat another Ursa into submission.

"If this is your idea of a party, remind me to never go to another one," Ren quipped as he kicked a Creep into the air before following up with a spinning kick to launch it into a Boarbatusk.

With Team JNPR's presence, Team RWBYS was allowed to slow down a bit. While they didn't have any real experience fighting together, they managed to work around each other well enough that the tide of battle was slowly changing. As the immediate threat, the Grimm had chosen to focus most of their attention on the humans in the clearing instead of focusing on their original goal but more than a few had been opting to ignore them and continue on. They tried their best to stop those before they got too far but there was simply too many to stop them all.

A little while into the fighting, the number of Grimm was starting to lessen but any feeling of elation this might have brought was squashed when the ground started shaking. The fighting slowed down even more as everyone looked on in horror at what was steadily approaching.

"Oh gods," Yang said quietly as a Goliath entered the battle. This creature was far larger than anything they had fought before and they simply had no idea as to just _how_ to go about fighting it.

Just as Ruby was about to order a retreat, Shirou resolved himself and shouted, "Give me some time!" As everyone confirmed, Shirou backed up a ways before drawing his black sword and transforming it into a bow. "Sorry, Saber," Shirou whispered as he used alteration to change Caliburn into something more befitting an arrow.

Knocking Caliburn II, Shirou drew it back and took aim as he began feeding his prana into it. While he had managed to regain _some_ prana over the course of the fight, he only had just enough to break Caliburn. After this, he'd be running on fumes and would have to start fighting with his nameless sword. Even so, this was an overwhelming threat that could only be stopped with overwhelming force. There was no other option.

 **"I am the bone of my sword,"** Shirou chanted as power flooded through his body and Caliburn II started to burn as bright as the sun. **"Caliburn!"** The arrow was released and the streak of golden light shot through the sky before punching into the Goliath. Half a heartbeat later, there was a massive explosion of golden fire as the colossal Grimm was burned away from the inside out.

As the blinding light faded away, Shirou pitched forward and would have collapsed if not for Ren's help. "Shirou, what _was_ that?" Ren asked in astonishment.

"Later," Shirou answered weakly as he pushed away from Ren and readied his sword. It was taking absolutely everything he had to stay standing and he really wasn't sure if he could fight for much longer. Every nerve in his body was screaming and his skin was so hot that he barely felt the cold wind that blew through the area.

"Shirou, fall back with Ren!" Ruby ordered. "We've got this!" Shirou was about to retort when the ground started shaking again. The horror of before was replaced by absolute terror as the other Goliaths Ruby had seen earlier made their appearance. "Or not," Ruby squeaked out.

Ruby turned to give the order to retreat but was cut off again as a series of laser beams streaked across the sky and crashed into the Goliaths. Everyone looked back toward the city to see several Atlesian battleships fire off another volley while letting out a swarm of fighters and dropships with a lone Bullhead leading the way. From the Bullhead, Team CFVY descended and started taking out the Grimm while the dropships deployed a number of Atlesian Knights.

"The cavalry's here, everyone!" Doctor Oobleck exclaimed as he also exited the Bullhead. Upon receiving such massive reinforcement, everyone let themselves relax with Team RWBYS nearly collapsing from exhaustion. As it was, the only reason Shirou _didn't_ collapse was due to Velvet supporting him after Coco had dismissed her. "Roman Torchwick is now safely in the custody of Atlas' military. You all have performed well beyond anyone's expectations and have acted with the bravery and decisiveness of any real Hunter. Now, if you all would, your chariot awaits. You all are hereby relieved of duty."

OoOoOoO

Several hours and a short nap later, Teams RWBYS and JNPR were standing on the roof of their dorm building. They had already made their reports to Professor Ozpin who had commended them all on their actions and especially Team JNPR on their initiative. Yang had taken that moment to somewhat forcefully request that they be assigned with Shirou should he ever be given a solo mission again. Despite Shirou's embarrassment, Professor Ozpin had a rather amused smile as he said that he would take Yang's request into consideration.

Now, as Shirou had promised, they had all gathered together for a long-awaited explanation.

"What _was_ all that back there, Shirou? That was _way_ beyond any Semblance," Yang asked.

"Just one moment," Shirou requested. He held out his hand and said "Trace, on," before projecting a piece of chalk. They all watched with keen interest as Shirou knelt down and drew a magic circle that Pyrrha recognized. After the bounded field was in place, Shirou dismissed the chalk and stood up.

"I… am what you would call a magus. Simply put, I am someone who is capable of performing magecraft," Shirou stated.

"Magecraft? You mean you can do magic?" Weiss asked.

"Yes and no." With that, Shirou launched into the basic explanation of magecraft, Magic Circuits, and his abilities; answering any questions as best as he could. By the time he was finished, they all had a variety of expressions. Pyrrha's expression was fairly neutral, as she had heard almost all of it before. Ruby had stars in her eyes while Nora was practically bouncing with excitement. Blake appeared to be deep in thought while Ren and Jaune both looked interested.

Yang, however, was furious. "You mean you could do this magecraft stuff this entire time‽ Why didn't you tell us‽ Why'd you lie and say it was your Semblance‽" she shouted.

Shirou winced at her outburst but otherwise remained firm, "Secrecy has always been my best weapon. The fewer people who know what I'm capable of, the better. Keeping the true scope of my abilities a secret has saved my life on more than one occasion.

"As for lying to you, it was a simple matter of not wanting to stand out more than I already do. I didn't want anyone thinking I was special or all that different from anybody else."

Yang groaned in frustration as she calmed down. "I get that; Ruby was the same when she got into Beacon two years early. But still, you should have trusted us more, Shirou. No matter what you can do, you're still you." Shirou smiled at Yang but was interrupted before he could reply.

"Earlier, you said something about already bearing the weight of countless lives. What did you mean by that?" Ruby innocently asked.

Shirou's expression immediately fell and Blake had a worried look while Jaune and Ren both looked uncomfortable.

"You don't have to tell us anything more, Shirou," Blake quickly said.

"No, it's okay," Shirou replied with a shake of his head. "Several of you already know some of the details and it wouldn't be fair if I didn't explain after saying something like that." With that declaration, Shirou explained the basics of his past to everyone. He still kept the fact that he was from another world a secret, however, along with the details of the Holy Grail War. There were some things that they simply didn't need to know.

By the end of it, Shirou was surprised by how easy telling them all had been, all things considered. The fact that Blake already knew all of this while Jaune and Ren knew parts of it probably helped. His breakdown and confession to Velvet likely made things easier as well. It still wasn't easy to talk about it and remember it, and it likely never would be, but maybe, just maybe, it could be a little easier.

After hearing his story, everyone saw Shirou in a new light. A number of his past actions made a lot more sense now, as did the special circumstances surrounding him. None of them could blame him for keeping all of this a secret, Nora and Ren least of all. Pain that deep was an ugly thing and the steps one would take to prevent that pain from worsening were only natural.

Jaune was the first to act after a moment of silence. He resolutely walked forward and stood before the morose Shirou. They stared at each other for a moment before Jaune abruptly pulled the other boy into a hug. Shirou stiffened at the sudden contact and watched in amazement as the others followed suit and joined in.

Surrounded as he was in the arms of his friends, Shirou could only weep.

OoOoOoO

High up in his office, overlooking the city of Vale, Ozpin sat in silence. His plans had been going fairly well, all things considered. While the train incident had been a close thing, it had been successfully resolved without any major consequence. There was also the matter that, if he understood the implications correctly, Shirou had demonstrated his magecraft to the others in a way that couldn't be passed off as a Semblance but that had been an inevitability. In fact, that reveal would ultimately prove useful in speeding certain things along but he would have to play his cards carefully to avoid too much from getting out too soon.

Of course, not everything was well and good. The thaumaturgy that lured in the Grimm had come from his school, after all. While it had been powerful, the burst had been too quick and too widespread for Ozpin to hone in on its point of origin. As such, they were no closer to discovering the identity of the infiltrator or infiltrators than they were before. The fact that one of them was a magus made things exponentially more difficult. There was no telling what they were capable of, after all, and secrets were deadly when it came to magi.

Ozpin's musings were interrupted by the sound of his communicator going off. He answered it but kept facing away from the screen that appeared above his desk. Even with the successful resolution of the train incident, this was a call that he had been expecting.

"Ozpin?" the gruff voice of one of Vale's councilmen said. "Ozpin!"

Ozpin slowly turned his chair around to see two video feeds: one of the Vale Council and one of General James Ironwood. "Yes, councilman?" Ozpin said calmly.

"You've left us no choice! The Vytal Festival tournament cannot be broadcast, let alone held, if we are unable to ensure the safety of the citizens," the councilman blustered.

Ozpin took a sip of his cocoa, his face completely neutral.

The councilman cleared his throat, clearly somewhat bothered by Ozpin's total lack of reaction, before continuing, "Therefore, we have reached out to the Atlas Council and together have decided that the best action is to appoint General Ironwood as head of security for the event."

"Thank you, Councilman. Our Kingdom is happy to lend as many troops as it takes to ensure that the event runs smoothly and safely as possible," James said smoothly.

"And we thank you, General," the councilman replied.

"Will that be all?" Ozpin asked, a hint of boredom in his voice. Frankly, the feeble machinations of the Vale Council annoyed Ozpin to no end but this form of government was, by and large, better for the people than an absolute monarchy. Even if it _was_ more annoying to deal with.

"For now," the councilman said. "But after this festival comes to a close, we are going to have a serious discussion about your position at Beacon Academy. General Ironwood's reports over the last few weeks have left us somewhat… concerned. I am sure you understand."

With that, the video feed of the council ended leaving just James'. The two men stared at each other in silence for a long moment before James said, "This is the right move, Ozpin. I promise I will keep our people safe, you have to trust me."

As James ended the call, Ozpin turned back around to stare at the Atlesian battleship that hovered outside his window. This wasn't the first time one of Ozpin's confidants had decided that they knew better than he did and he knew that James likely wouldn't be the last. While there was no doubt in Ozpin's mind that James had the world's best interests in heart, James simply couldn't grasp the full scope of what they were up against. His moves were too hasty, too shortsighted. In this game against Salem, there was no doubt that James would lose utterly.

With that thought in mind, Ozpin took another sip of his cocoa as he began plotting his next move.

OoOoOoO

"You brought this on yourself," General James Ironwood said as he stared out the window at Ozpin's office. He understood Ozpin's need for caution, he really did, but he had gone too far. Caution and careful manipulation would get them nowhere. At best, it would just continue this bloody stalemate until the end of time. No, what they needed to do was to strike hard, fast, and decisively. There could be no waiting with lives at stake for him to think people were ready.

To that end, James made his way to where they were keeping their latest and perhaps most important prisoner. "Leave us," he commanded the guards who were watching over the recently captured Roman Torchwick. The notorious bandit leader had made quite the fuss when they took away his bowler hat but that just gave James all the more reason to take it.

"I've been informed that so far you've refused to co-operate with the authorities," James began evenly.

"I know this might be hard to believe, General, but uh… I'm not the biggest fan of local law enforcement," Roman replied flippantly.

"How about the world's strongest military power?"

"Hmm… first impressions… not great."

"I'm going to give you one chance. Who's really behind all this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Roman said as he leaned forward before whispering, "You're looking at him."

James was thoroughly unimpressed. "Hm… Very well, then," he said before walking away.

"What's the matter, General? I thought you wanted to talk," Roman called out.

"The council's given me custody over you for as long as I see fit. So, you can make yourself comfortable. I can be sure that you'll have plenty of time to talk."

"Oh, wonderful," Roman said before laughing maniacally.

OoOoOoO

Somewhere in Vale, on a deserted rooftop, Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, and Mercury Blake all gathered.

"All in all, I'd call today a success," Cinder said.

"Only a handful of Grimm managed to get into the city. The train didn't even crash!" Mercury pointed out.

"Neither of those things were ever important. That plan was always going to end in 'failure.' What's important is that the people are on edge. An attempted terrorist attack and a near Grimm invasion is not something people can so easily put aside."

"Those stupid kids really made a mess of things," Emerald complained. All of that work put in to that magic circle for what felt like nothing really pissed her off.

"Yeah. A lot of Faunus didn't make it out the tunnels. You still think the White Fang's gonna listen to us?" Mercury asked.

"No, but they'll listen to me," a new voice said. The trio looked to see a tall man with red-and-brown windswept hair wearing a specially made Grimm mask. The two reddish-black horns on the side of his head marked him as a Faunus.

Adam Taurus had entered the scene.

(A/N: Volume 2 ED: "Rising" by Jeff Williams)

 **Volume 2  
Birth of Heroes  
END**

* * *

A/N: And that marks the end of Volume 2. Just like last time, there will be a hiatus as I finish up Volume 3 before that gets going weekly. I apologize for the delay but I hope you understand. Also like last time, there will be a number of bonus "chapters" after this one. It's the same stuff as before but updated to reflect developments in the story. I hope you enjoy them.

A lot of things changed in this volume which will make the start of Volume 3 quite a bit different. I know that none of the changes so far have been particularly grandiose but there have been countless small changes that have been quickly adding up. The next volume is where all of those little changes start to have major impacts. It's a volume I've been looking forward to writing since the beginning so I do hope you all will enjoy it when we get to it.

Well, that's all from me this time. I hope you all enjoyed Volume 2 and I hope to see you all again for Volume 3.


	27. Volume 2 Omake Collection

A/N: As before, just a collection of all omake in Volume 2 for easy reference.

* * *

 **Omake 5  
** Team Responsibilities  
Before V2C2

Emiya Shirou dismissed Kanshou and Bakuya as the klaxon blared, signaling the end of the match. He honestly didn't need them for this fight but, for the sake of the other person's pride, he decided to use his "Semblance."

"That was a good match," Shirou said to Weiss Schnee, who was getting to her feet as Shirou approached. The rest of Team RWBY also came onto the arena where they had been fighting.

"Hardly. I didn't land a single hit on you," Weis said somewhat bitterly. Ruby Rose gave her partner a sympathetic smile and pat on the shoulder.

"Maybe but your wide variety of options for both offense and defense kept me on my toes. You even nearly managed to trap me in your ice once or twice."

Weiss shook her head, "Even so, I'm disappointed in my performance. I could tell that you were holding back that entire time."

Shirou smiled bashfully as he rubbed at the back of his head, "You're right, I was, but don't let that get to you. I've been fighting on my own for basically my entire life and, even now, I don't have a team to back me up. You, however, are different. The large number of abilities that your Semblance grants you make you an incredible asset to any team. The number of combination attacks available to you are simply staggering."

"Shirou's right," Yang added as she patted Weiss on the back. "We wouldn't be half the team we are without you!"

Weiss looked at the smiling faces of her team before smiling ruefully and saying, "Even so, it would be nice if I was able to rely on my own strength every now and then."

"Don't be absurd," Shirou said sharply, much to everyone's surprise. "On our own, there's not a whole lot that we can do. It's only by working together and relying on our friends and allies that our goals can be accomplished. I honestly envy you. For all of the power and skill that I have, I simply don't work all that well with a team. The potential for my powers to be used in conjunction with another's is incredibly limited. You, however, are the exact opposite. Your greatest strength lies in working with your team."

Weiss looked thoughtful as the others voiced their agreement. The notion that Shirou was saying was completely at odds with what she had been taught all of her life. To stand on her own two feet and rely solely on her strength to overcome all adversity. That was the lesson that her father had drilled into her for as long as she could remember. And yet, despite that, her best performances so far had been when she was working alongside someone. While she was confident that she could have taken that pack of Beowolves that they encountered in the forest on her own with some difficulty, working alongside Ruby made it a breeze. Then there was the giant Nevermore. Even at her current level, she doubted that she could have handled it on her own.

Maybe that was something else that her father was wrong about.

Smiling up at the rest of her team, Weiss nodded. "You're right. It's my responsibility to take care of my team and they'll take care of me in return." Blake nodded at her words while Yang gave her a thumbs up. Ruby just hugged her outright. "In fact, I think I already have some ideas on how we can use my Semblance…" Weiss began as she pushed Ruby off of her.

"I'll leave you girls to it, then," Shirou said before walking off.

It had only been for an instant but why did Shirou look so sad when he was leaving?

 **Omake 6  
** Unlucky Situation  
After V2C5

Qrow Branwen casually tossed his Scroll onto his desk after reading the report. Qrow was a man of many contradictions. His feather-like hair was a greying black and was spiked backward with his bangs framing his dull red eyes. Between his slightly angular facial features and the slight stubble running along his jaw, it was safe to say that he was a rather attractive man. This was further emphasized by his state of dress. He wore a gray dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants, and black dress shoes that were capped off with a tattered red cloak. Combined with his numerous rings a crooked cross necklace, he looked like an important man with a lot of money.

The contradiction was in everything else about him. The atmosphere that Qrow gave off was lackadaisical at the best of times and downright buffoonish at worst. The fact that he tended to go through most days at varying levels of drunkenness didn't help matters. Worse still, the office he was currently in was the complete opposite of how he dressed. While it wasn't messy, it also wasn't even remotely organized and every single piece of furniture in it could charitably be referred to as "cheap."

The report that Qrow had just read was one that Ozpin had just sent him. Apparently, his darlings nieces and their team had decided it'd be a good idea to get in a tussle with the White Fang and their stolen Atlesian military hardware. They had managed to resolve the situation with relatively minor property damage and no major injuries. They had even managed to get information that both revealed the presence of a White Fang hideout outside the city (something that they had suspicions of but had lacked hard evidence for) and narrowed down where it could be located. Between this and the incident at the docks a few months ago, Team RWBY was really making a name for themselves.

Frankly, Qrow was impressed. His team hadn't started into this kind of trouble until their second year.

Still, this turn of events was somewhat worrying. While Qrow had full confidence in the capabilities of his nieces, he couldn't help but worry about them. It was a big, dangerous world out there and they were starting to tangle with forces that went way beyond what any of them knew.

Well, any of them except one . Emiya Shirou was a very curious individual. Despite only being seventeen, he had the same air about him as veteran Hunters who had seen all kinds of hell. The kid's fighting was also something else. He fought with the ferocity and precision of a soldier and his fighting style seemed to frequently change based on what weapon he was using. Fighting him hadn't been like fighting a single person but rather like fighting fifty people all rolled into one. Keeping up with him had been a pain and the less said about when he fought with that stupidly long katana, the better.

Then there was the matter of the kid's luck. The fact that Qrow happened to be nearby when that hole in the sky opened up was pretty lucky by itself but things got crazy when they fought. Whenever Qrow's Semblance, which brought misfortune to others, acted up against Shirou, it was almost a crapshoot as to whether the thing that happened to him was actually bad or only seemed bad at first but was a good thing in the long run.

And then he used that "Reality Marble" thing and it took everything Qrow had to not throw his hands up then and there and call bullshit.

All in all, Qrow found this kid from another world to be an absolute headache but there was no denying that he was a good kid. From the reports Ozpin sent him and the occasional messages he got from Ruby and Yang, Shirou was doing a lot to help out not only them but literally everyone else around him. The fact that someone so completely altruistic existed should have been laughable but Emiya Shirou's mere existence was undeniable. The kid didn't seem to have a selfish bone in his body. While he had warned him to not try anything funny with Ruby, he honestly wouldn't have any complaints if she developed a crush on him. Plenty of worries but no complaints.

Still, with things going as they were, perhaps it was time for him to make an appearance. With the Vytal Festival coming up, Qrow could probably get away with taking a few personal days off. Yeah, after he located the White Fang hideout for Ozpin, he'd do just that.

 **Omake 7  
** Acceptance  
After V2C9

Emiya Shirou sighed deeply, his breath coming out in a white cloud as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. Even with a projected Aura, it was an incredibly cold night and the fact that the sun had already set didn't help at all. Still, there was something that simply couldn't be put off any longer and required some degree of privacy so that meant it had to happen on the dorm roof. It was honestly rather amusing how many important events seemed to happen here.

After a few minutes of waiting, Shirou turned around when he heard the door open to see Ruby Rose making her way over to him. She was wearing her school uniform, surprisingly enough, but the somewhat sloppy way she was wearing it indicated that she had just thrown it on.

"Hey, Shirou. What's up?" Ruby asked as she got near.

Shirou swallowed thickly before speaking. Every part of him was screaming at him to not do this but he had already made his decision. "It's about you're invitation," he began. Ruby looked confused for a moment before her face lit up in recognition. "First of all, I'm sorry about taking so long to get back to you. I had to talk with a few people first."

"No, it's okay!" Ruby quickly said. "I know it wasn't something you had really thought about or planned on going to so it's only natural that you'd need some time to think it over!"

Shirou shook his head but carried on. "Anyway, I'd like to give you my answer now," he said before bowing. "I'd be glad to go to the dance with you."

Ruby was silent for a long moment, Shirou's growing more anxious as the seconds ticked by, before she forced him to stand straight before throwing her arms around him. "Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! Thank you thank you thank you!" she practically shouted as she tried to choke the life out of him.

Shirou was grateful for both his past experience with Velvet hugging him and the talk with Jaune and Ren he just had. The last thing he needed right now was to have another breakdown as he awkwardly returned the hug.

Ruby broke the hug enough to look at Shirou. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement and there was a slight blush on her face. "So, I'll see you at the port at 7, right?" she asked.

Shirou nodded as he forced himself to smile, "I'll be there."

Ruby hugged him fiercely again before letting go. "Thanks again, Shirou! Goodnight!" she said as she hurried off to tell Yang.

"Any time, Ruby!" Shirou replied.

Once Ruby was gone, Shirou's entire body sagged as his expression fell. It was great that Ruby was so happy but why did he still feel so miserable?

 **Omake 8  
** Trust  
During V2C12

General James Ironwood sighed deeply as he stared out at the City of Vale from Beacon's airship port. The lights of the city twinkled like stars as Atlesian airships hovered protectively above. It was a glorious sight that signified the unity the two great nations had and James took great pride in this fact but the sight also left him feeling uneasy. The fact that the ships were here under these circumstances was a sign of how desperate things had become. Instead of a show of strength and unity as everyone rallied together to defeat Salem, it was instead a not-so-subtle attempt by James to basically strongarm Ozpin into actually taking action.

"Trouble sleeping?" a familiar voice called out from behind. James turned slightly to see Glynda Goodwitch approaching him.

"Arm was acting up," James said as he gripped his left bicep.

"Of course, so logically, you got out of bed, dressed yourself completely and decided to gaze menacingly out into the distance," Glydna said wryly as she came to stand by his side. "What's wrong?" she asked with a concerned look.

James gave Glynda a long look before speaking, "I've trusted him for years. We both have. I just… I can't help but feel like he's keeping us in the dark."

"Don't be ridiculous! You know very well that we are not the ones in the dark," came Glynda's immediate retort.

"Can you be sure of that? Ozpin has been doing a lot of things that make no sense and, whenever asked, he just gives vague answers. I just refuse to believe that a man that I've trusted for so long would act so… passively."

Glynda put a reassuring hand on James' shoulder before saying, "You're a good person, James. You've always done what you think is best for the people, even against strong protest. It's admirable. But it's high time you stopped talking about trust and started showing it." She dropped her hand and joined James in looking out over the city lights. She was quiet for a moment longer before saying, "Ozpin has experience that the rest of us lack. And I think that's something worth remembering."


	28. Volume 2 Stat Sheets

A/N: Just a reminder that these guys aren't comparable to Servants. Also, please don't take these too seriously. They're more for my own amusement than anything else. They're representative of what to expect, though. As before, if you want to see this with better formatting, just head on over to AO3.

* * *

 **Emiya Shirou:**

 **Affiliation:** Beacon Academy, Team RWBYS

 **Color:** Silver

 **Sex:** Male

 **Race:** Human

 **Age:** 18

 **Height/Weight:** 170 cm/59 kg

 **Alignment:** Neutral Good

 **Semblance:**?

 **Strength:** D+

 **Endurance:** D

 **Agility:** C-

 **Prana:** D

 **Aura:** C+

 **Luck:** EX

 **Technique:** C-—A

 **Soul Surge:** ?

 **Noble Phantasm:** ?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Magecraft:** C-

 **Eye of the Mind (True):** D+

 **Clairvoyance:** D

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

 **Noble Phantasm:**

 **Unlimited Blade Works:** ? E-A++

 **Avalon:** Barrier EX

OoOoOoO

 **Ruby Rose:**

 **Affiliation:** Team RWBYS

 **Color:** Red

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Human

 **Age:** 15

 **Height/Weight:** 159 cm/53 kg

 **Alignment:** Lawful Good

 **Semblance:** Speed

 **Strength:** D

 **Endurance:** D-

 **Agility:** C-

 **Aura:** D+

 **Luck:** B+

 **Technique:** D

 **Soul Surge:**?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Instinct:** D-

 **Clairvoyance:** E

 **Soul Surges:** Fairy Law

 **Level 1:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Weiss Schnee:**

 **Affiliation:** Team RWBYS, Schnee Dust Company

 **Color:** White

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Human

 **Age:** 17

 **Height/Weight:** 160 cm/50 kg

 **Alignment:** Lawful Good

 **Semblance:** Glyphs

 **Strength:** E

 **Endurance:** E+

 **Agility:** D

 **Aura:** C-

 **Luck:** C

 **Technique:** D

 **Soul Surge:**?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Dust Usage:** D-

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Blake Belladonna:**

 **Affiliation:** Team RWBYS

 **Color:** Black

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Cat Faunus

 **Age:** 17

 **Height/Weight:** 170 cm/53 kg

 **Alignment:** Chaotic Good

 **Semblance:** Shadow

 **Strength:** D-

 **Endurance:** E+

 **Agility:** C

 **Aura:** D-

 **Luck:** E

 **Technique:** D

 **Soul Surge:** D+

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Presence Concealment:** D-

 **Soul Surges:** Certain Kill

 **Level 1:** Blossom Dance

OoOoOoO

 **Yang Xiao Long**

 **Affiliation:** Team RWBYS

 **Color:** Yellow

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Human

 **Age:** 17

 **Height/Weight:** 175 cm/59 kg

 **Alignment:** Chaotic Good

 **Semblance:** Counterattack

 **Strength:** C

 **Endurance:** C-

 **Agility:** E+

 **Aura:** C-

 **Luck:** E+

 **Technique:** E+

 **Soul Surge:** B

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Battle Continuation:** D-

 **Bravery:** D+

 **Riding:** D-

 **Soul Surges:** Full Release

 **Level 1:** Roaring Dragon Fang

OoOoOoO

 **Jaune Arc:**

 **Affiliation:** Team JNPR

 **Color:** White

 **Sex:** Male

 **Race:** Human

 **Age:** 17

 **Height/Weight:** 187 cm/77 kg

 **Alignment:** Lawful Good

 **Semblance:** ?

 **Strength:** E+

 **Endurance:** E+

 **Agility:** E+

 **Aura:** A++

 **Luck:** D

 **Technique:** E+

 **Soul Surge:** ?

 **Noble Phantasm:** ?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Eye of the Mind (Fake):** E-

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

 **Noble Phantasms:**

 **Crocea Mors:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Nora Valkyrie:**

 **Affiliation:** Team JNPR

 **Color:** Pink

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Human

 **Age:** 17

 **Height/Weight:** 158 cm/55 kg

 **Alignment:** Chaotic Good

 **Semblance:** ?

 **Strength:** C-

 **Endurance:** C-

 **Agility:** D

 **Aura:** D

 **Luck:** B-

 **Technique:** D-

 **Soul Surge:** ?

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Riding:** E+

 **Soul Surges:** ?

 **Level 1:**?

OoOoOoO

 **Pyrrha Nikos:**

 **Affiliation:** Team JNPR

 **Color:** Red

 **Sex:** Female

 **Race:** Human

 **Age:** 17

 **Height/Weight:** 185 cm/72 kg

 **Alignment:** Lawful Good

 **Semblance:** Polarity

 **Strength:** D+

 **Endurance:** D

 **Agility:** C

 **Aura:** C+

 **Luck:** C+

 **Technique:** C

 **Soul Surge:** C

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Eye of the Mind (True):** C-

 **Clairvoyance:** D-

 **Battle Continuation:** C-

 **Soul Surges:** Finishing Move

 **Level 1:** Drill Breaker

OoOoOoO

 **Lie Ren:**

 **Affiliation:** Team JNPR

 **Color:** Green

 **Sex:** Male

 **Race:** Human

 **Age:** 17

 **Height/Weight:** 176 cm/62 kg

 **Alignment:** Lawful Good

 **Semblance:** Extrasensory Concealment

 **Strength:** D

 **Endurance:** D-

 **Agility:** C

 **Aura:** C-

 **Luck:** C+

 **Technique:** D+

 **Soul Surge:** D-

 **Personal Skills:**

 **Knowledge of Foremost Harmony:** D+

 **Soul Surges:** Succession Art

 **Level 1:** Spiraling Lotus


	29. Volume 2 Timeline

**CE 1785 September 9, Tuesday** \- Ozpin interrogates Blake about the previous day's events.

 **CE 1785 December 22, Monday** \- Beacon's winter holiday begins. Shirou and Ruby have a sparring match.

 **CE 1785 December 29, Sunday** \- Shirou and Weiss have a sparring match.

 **CE 1786 January 4, Sunday** \- Shirou goes shopping with Velvet. Teams RWBY and JNPR have a food fight. General James Ironwood arrives in Vale.

 **CE 1786 January 5, Monday** \- Shirou and Ruby have another training session. Team RWBY decides to investigate Roman and the White Fang. Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury infiltrate Beacon as students from Haven and meet Ruby.

 **CE 1786 January 6, Tuesday** \- Team RWBY brings Shirou in on their plans. Ruby and Weiss go to the Cross Continental Transmission Tower and run into Penny along the way, learning that she's a robot. Yang and Shirou interrogate Junior, learning that Roman hired some of his goons a while back. Blake infiltrates a White Fang rally, learns that they've procured military hardware, and gets discovered by Roman. Team RWBY and Shirou fight and defeat Roman who is using a Paladin.

 **CE 1786 January 7, Wednesday** \- Shirou starts training outside at night.

 **CE 1786 January 8, Thursday** \- Shirou challenges Yang to a rematch. Yang and Blake talk about the White Fang. Shirou and Velvet talk about things.

 **CE 1786 January 9, Friday** \- Team CFVY leaves on a mission.

 **CE 1786 January 13, Tuesday** \- Shirou and Pyrrha spar first in front of the class and then in private. Pyrrha discovers that Shirou is a Magus.

 **CE 1786 January 14, Wednesday** \- Jaune and Pyrrha continue training. Jaune asks Pyrrha to the dance.

 **CE 1786 January 15, Thursday** \- Ruby asks Shirou to the dance.

 **CE 1786 January 16, Friday** \- Team RWBY, sans Blake, finish preparing for the dance. Yang asks Blake to the dance.

 **CE 1786 January 17, Saturday -** The Beacon Dance is held. Cinder Fall infiltrates Vale's CCT Tower and uploads a virus.

 **CE 1786 January 18, Sunday** \- Shirou is sent to investigate Mountain Glenn ahead of Team RWBY.

 **CE 1786 January 19, Monday -** Team CFVY returns from their mission one week later than scheduled. The first years get sent on their first mission. Team RWBY heads to Mountain Glenn alongside Professor Oobleck.

 **CE 1786 January 20, Tuesday** \- Team RWBY, Shirou, and Professor Oobleck successfully thwart the White Fang's attempted attack on Vale before repelling a hoard of Grimm drawn in by Emerald's magic circle with the aid of the Atlesian military.


End file.
